KT cloud’s pre-IPO fundraising joined by DigitalBridge

The contest for a share in KT cloud, who dominates government software update procurements, in pre-IPO fundraising has bulked up with the joining of heavyweight multinational name DigitalBridge Group.

KT has recently shortlisted DigitalBridge Group and other global funds Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Macquarie, and Mirae Asset Global Investments as candidates for KT cloud’s offerings of unlisted new shares, according to industry sources on Thursday.

The cloud computing service unit of Korea’s major telco KT is doling out about 20 percent stake worth 800 billion won ($564 million) in the pre-IPO placement. Preferred bidders will be named by the end of this year.

DigitalBridge Group is a global digital infrastructure investment firm based in the U.S. The NYSE-listed investment firm has $48 billion assets under management, as of June 2022. Its investment bid in a Korean entity is the first.

KT cloud provides cloud computing service to businesses and government agencies. It is the second largest in the local cloud computing service market after Amazon Web Services (AWS) and dominates internet data service (IDC) market.

It is raising funds to strengthen its computing service capacity amid challenges from Naver and Kakao.

KT cloud earned 455.9 billion won in revenue last year. It aims to boost its revenue to over 2 trillion won by 2026, as it forecast the local cloud computing and IDC market to grow 16 percent on average every year to reach 11.6 trillion won by 2025.

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