Google and Amazon in race to buy Tata's data centre, a deal worth whooping Rs 4k crore!

Google and Amazon are in fray to buy data centre business of Tata Communications, a deal which is expected to fetch around $650-700 million, or Rs 4,589.2 crore.

Apart from Google and Amazon, Blackstone Group, Carlyle, KKR, bain Capital and Advent International are also in talks with the Tata Group.

They are looking to buy up to 74% stake in the data centre unit and take control of the business that is spread across 44 locations in India and abroad.

Even Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries has also had a few rounds of discussions with the Tata Group management regarding the deal. If the deal goes through, it will help Tata Communications lower debt burden, which is of Rs 9,178 crore ($1.4 billion), according to a July 2015 investor presentation.

For the buyout, the Tata Group has hired Jefferies LLC to advise it on the transaction.

Tata Comm, Amazon and Sembcorp did not comment on the matter.

Search engine Google and e-Commerce behemoth Amazon are interested in the deal as they plan to expand the cloud computing infrastructure business in India.

And acquiring large data centre operations will give access for companies like Google to penetrate into the Indian data market. Amazon Web Service, or AWS, is one of the leading data centre operators in the world and the company has aggressive plans in India, a banker close to Amazon told the financial daily.

(Image: Reuters)