SINGAPORE - A new IPO is in the works with Keppel Telecommunications and Transportation (Keppel T&T) proposing to list its data centres via a real estate investment trust (Reit) on the Singapore Exchange's mainboard.

Keppel DC Reit will start off with eight data centre properties in Asia-Pacific and Europe: Keppel Digihub and Keppel Datahub 1 in Singapore; Gore Hill Data Centre in Sydney, Australia and iseek Data Centre in Brisbane, Australia; Basis Bay Data Centre1 in Selangor, Malaysia; GV7 Data Centre in London, the United Kingdom; Almere Data Centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Citadel 100 Data Centre in Dublin, Ireland.

The Reit's strategy will be to invest in a diversified portfolio of income producing real estate assets that are used primarily for data centre purposes.

Chief executive officer of Keppel T&T Thomas Pang said: "There has been a surge in demand for data centres, driven by a growth in e-commerce, cloud computing, and big data. Increasingly, these new generation data centres are also required to adhere to high environmental and security standards, areas which require significant knowledge and investment."

Keppel T&T had announced its IPO plans earlier this year, with reports saying that the IPO could raise as much as US$400 million. Keppel T&T's third quarter revenue rose 30 per cent to $53.7 million, owing mainly to higher revenue from the data centre and logistics divisions. Net profit was 31 per cent higher at $18.5 million.

Keppel T&T said Monday morning that it is seeking shareholders' approval for the injection of Keppel Digihub, Keppel Datahub 1, Gore Hill Data Centre and Citadel 100 Data Centre into the Reit at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Nov 25. The EGM will also ask for shareholders' approval of the listing.