Japan’s NEC is reportedly considering a sale of its data centers.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports the company is exploring a possible sale as it looks to ‘streamline its portfolio’ and raise cash by selling non-core assets.
The company is said to be looking to hire financial advisers to help prepare a potential sale of the business, which could be valued at $400-500 million. NEC may look to retain a minority stake in the business.
Other data center operators and infrastructure-focused funds have reportedly shown preliminary interest in the assets, but a formal sale process may not kick off until later this year.
NEC declined to comment to Bloomberg.
According to its cloud solutions page, NEC operates three core cloud data centers; one in Kobe to the west of Osaka, another in Kanagawa to the south of Tokyo, and one in the Inzai area to Tokyo’s east which was completed in 2022.
As well as the three cloud facilities and a data center in Nagoya, the company also has smaller data centers in Ehime prefecture on Shikoku Island; Fukuoka City on Kyushu Island; Sapporo City on Hokkaido Island; Hiroshima; Tokyo; and Kanagawa Prefecture (but separate to the cloud Kanagawa facility) in Kawasaki City, Yokohama City, and East Japan.
NEC also has a data center joint venture with local system integrator SCSK, which is part of the Sumitomo Corporation conglomerate. SCSK operates 10 data centers in Japan totaling 95,000 sqm (one million sq ft) through its netXDC subsidiary [not to be confused with Australia's NextDC].
