March 8 (Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm KKR is working with advisers on a sale of data center cooling company CoolIT Systems for a price tag potentially exceeding $3 billion, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.Â
A potential sale of CoolIT was in the preliminary stage and there were no guarantees that it would result in a transaction, the report said, adding that multiple buyers had been earmarked as potential bidders.Â
CoolIT declined to comment. KKR did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.Â
High-powered AI and cloud servers crunching data need huge amounts of power and give off intense heat that traditional air cooling systems are often unable to cool properly.
The global appetite for data centers has sparked a wave of dealmaking across the industry as companies race to build capacity to meet the surge in power and cooling needs.
CoolIT specializes in designing, developing and manufacturing liquid cooling technologies for AI and computing systems, according to its website. It was acquired by KKR in 2023.Â
(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Porter)
