02/02/2026

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | FEB 2, 2026

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KKR-led group set to buy Singapore data centre firm, WSJ reports SINGAPORE: A KKR-led consortium is nearing a deal to buy ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, which would value the company at more than S$13 billion (RM40 billion), the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. KKR declined to comment on the report, while ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, ST Telemedia, and Singtel did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment outside regular business hours. would give them full ownership, for over S$5 billion. KKR currently owns about 14% of the firm while Singtel, the city-state’s biggest telecom operator, has a stake of more than 4%. The rest is held by ST Telemedia, which is wholly owned by Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings.

Japan markets on edge over It operates more than 100 data centres with over 2 gigawatts of IT load across over 20 major markets, including Singapore, India and Japan, as well as Europe via its VIRTUS brand in the UK, Germany and Italy, according to its website. – Reuters demand for digital infrastructure. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Singapore, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres describes itself as one of the world’s fastest-growing data centre providers. TOKYO: Japan will continue to face market jitters over fiscal policy, with the risk of further tax relief raising the prospect of a renewed selloff in government bonds and the yen similar to Britain’s “Truss shock”, a former top currency diplomat said. Markets remain highly sensitive to the risk that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could lean toward more sales tax relief to shore up voter support if it senses trouble in the election campaign, said Hiroshi Watanabe, a former vice-finance minister for international affairs. “We’re somehow managing to hold the line for now, but it’s right at the edge,” Watanabe told Reuters in an interview. Watanabe, now a visiting professor at Tokyo Seitoku University, oversaw Japan’s currency policy and coordinated economic policy with other countries between 2004 and 2007. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is seeking a mandate for her push to reflate the economy in a snap election on Feb 8. Japan suffered a broad market rout last month after Takaichi pledged to cut the consumption tax on food for two years, reviving investor concerns about fiscal discipline in a country with public debt more than twice the size of its economy. Super-long Japanese government bonds sold off sharply, while the yen slid toward levels that had previously triggered yen-buying intervention. Markets have since stabilised somewhat, with the yen rebounding to around 154 per dollar as speculation grew that Japanese and US authorities had carried out rate checks – normally considered a precursor to actual intervention. Watanabe warned of a strong reaction from investors to any hint that tax relief could expand beyond current pledges. “I do think that Takaichi, as well as Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, have registered the warnings coming from global capital markets,” Watanabe said, adding that caution from major US and European investors had likely tempered policymakers’ public messaging. Watanabe said concerns over public finances, combined with a structural trade deficit and a lack of clarity over the Bank of Japan’s rate path, would likely limit the scope for a sustained yen rebound. “There is a possibility that the yen could briefly move into the 140s per dollar,” he said. “But it’s hard to see a situation where yen appreciation continues.” – Reuters looser fiscal policy: Don

The investment firm will acquire the Singapore-based global data centre provider from its parent company, the report said, adding that KKR is making the acquisition together with Singaporean telecommunications giant Singtel.

Reuters reported in November that KKR and Singapore Telecommunications were in advanced talks to buy more than 80% of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, which

If successful, the deal would rank among Asia’s biggest data centre transactions, with the boom in artificial intelligence creating soaring

Customers wait to sell their gold jewelry in a Smart Gold Store Machine placed in a shopping in Shanghai. – AFPPIC

Chinese cash in jewellery at automated gold recyclers o Family heirlooms melted

had handed it down to her this year. “If the price is good, I will sell it,” she told AFP as she waited for her turn. Minutes after Zhao deposited the ring into the machine, a message popped up on its screen that said Kinghood would buy the chunk of high-karat gold for over 12,000 yuan. Satisfied, Zhao clicked “agree” on the terms displayed onscreen and keyed in her full name, ID number and bank account details, while her grandfather’s ring was melted down into a smooth puddle on the live video feed. The attendant promised she would receive the full amount via bank transfer by the end of the day. “Other places test the gold by burning it slightly, but here they test it directly and it’s open and transparent,” Zhao said, explaining that she trusted the automated recycler over a traditional human buyer. In addition to a steady stream of sellers, the machine also drew the attention of bystanders who gawked at the large sums of money changing hands at the unassuming corner of the mall. “Damn!” said a passerby when she saw that one person was selling their old jewellery for more than 75,000 yuan. And onlookers crowded around an elderly couple as the machine calculated that their finger-sized gold bar could fetch over 122,000 yuan. – AFP

“Gold prices hold steady at a historic high, it’s the right time to sell gold,” an ad on the machine advised customers. An embedded screen displayed the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s fluctuating prices, while a live video feed showed a robotic arm moving gold scraps onto a scale and under a device that used light waves to measure its purity. Some people told AFP they had waited over an hour for their turn. An attendant kept track of each seller’s position in the queue, and helped to deposit ornate pendants, hammered rings and commemorative coins into an opening in the device. Wu said her elderly mother was especially excited about soaring gold prices, and saw the recycling machine as a chance to supplement her modest pension. “Everyone is suddenly talking about (gold), and it has sparked this emotion in her,” Wu told AFP. Zhao, a woman sporting an intricately carved gold medallion on a necklace of jade beads and shimmering bangles on her wrist, brought her late grandfather’s ring to the recycling machine. The ring’s surface was adorned with the Chinese character for “luck” and tiny images of traditional gold ingots. Zhao said she believed her grandfather had purchased the ring sometime between the 1950s and the 1980s, and that her mother

for money as price of precious metal soars

SHANGHAI: Dozens of people crowded around an automated gold recycling machine at a Shanghai mall, hoping to melt down family heirlooms for cash as prices of the precious metal hit record highs. China is the world’s largest consumer of gold, which is traditionally purchased by families to mark special occasions like births and weddings. But as prices soared to a fresh high near US$5,600 on Thursday, customers surrounding the bright yellow machine installed by gold trading firm Kinghood Group were looking to sell. “I never thought prices would rise so dramatically,” said 54-year-old Wu, who told AFP she wanted to sell panda-themed gold coins she had purchased after the birth of her daughter in 2002. Wu said she had previously sold the machine a ring inherited from her late father, which fetched around 10,000 yuan (RM5,518) – a huge increase from the original 1,000 yuan her mother had paid for the ring decades ago.