Singapore’s three largest banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB, have taken prominent roles in a S$5 billion ( US$3.93 billion ) sustainability-linked loan backing KKR and Singtel’s acquisition of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres ( STT GDC ).

The KKR and Singtel consortium paid S$6.6 billion in cash for the remaining 82% stake in the Singapore-headquartered data centre provider, valuing the company at an implied enterprise value of S$13.8 billion. The acquisition was completed on August 31.

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The sizeable financing brings together two of Asia’s fastest-growing themes, digital infrastructure and sustainability-linked lending. The three banks are mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners as well as sustainability-linked loan coordinators for the facility, alongside a broader lender group.

The transaction underlines the strong appetite for data centre assets as demand for artificial intelligence ( AI ), cloud computing, data storage and connectivity drives investment in digital infrastructure across Asia.

It also highlights the green challenge of sustainable data centre growth. As major consumers of electricity, data centres face growing pressure to increase renewable energy use and improve environmental performance.

The financing addresses this through two sustainability performance indicators tied directly to STT GDC’s operations. These indicators measure increases in renewable energy as a percentage of total electricity consumption and the proportion of green data centres across its portfolio.

The S$5 billion facility also deepens the role of DBS, OCBC and UOB in financing the fast-growing data centre sector as institutional and private capital pours into the region’s digital infrastructure.

“As Asia’s digital economy accelerates, data centres have become critical infrastructure underpinning AI, cloud computing and digital innovation,” says Edmund Leong, UOB’s head of group corporate banking.

The transaction reflects the growing amounts of capital required to develop infrastructure for the region’s next phase of growth, while demonstrating how sustainable financing can combine commercial expansion with environmental objectives, Leong adds.

Headquartered in Singapore, STT GDC has expanded into 20 major business markets across Asia-Pacific, the United Kingdom and Europe, giving it a substantial footprint from which to capture rising demand for AI, cloud and other compute-intensive workloads.