Sold to consortium led by Chinese manufacturing company
Bain Capital has sold its China data center business to a Chinese-led consortium for $4bn.
The private equity firm announced on Wednesday, September 10, that WinTrix, its data center portfolio company, had sold all of its equity interest in ChinData, which operated Bain’s Chinese data center business.
It appears that APAC-focused Bridge Data Centres, which was merged with ChinData after Bain purchased it in 2019 and was, according to Reuters, informally separated after Bain took ChinData private in 2023, will remain part of the private investment firm's portfolio.
Bain’s China data center assets will be acquired by a consortium led by Chinese manufacturing and construction company Shenzhen Dongyangguang Industry. It is the parent company of Guangdong HEC Technology Holding, which has been touted as a favorite to acquire ChinData when reports began surfacing in August that Bain was seeking a buyer.
As reported by Reuters, according to a stock exchange filing, HEC and a related party will invest 3.5 billion yuan ($491 million) and 4bn yuan ($561m) into a joint venture to buy the assets, with HEC holding about 46.7 percent in the joint venture.
Bain added that “institutional investors, including insurance companies and local government funds,” were also involved.
ChinData CEO Wu Huapeng said: “By combining ChinData's leadership in advanced cooling technologies with HEC's expertise in liquid-cooling materials and precision manufacturing, we will drive a new model of power–compute synergy and set new benchmarks for sustainable development.
“Together, we will reinforce ChinData's position as a leading player in the national 'Eastern Data, Western Computing' initiative and unlock broader opportunities across the AI industry value chain.”
Bain Capital’s chair of China, Jonathan Zhu, added: “ChinData’s journey reflects Bain Capital’s strategy of partnering with outstanding management teams to build category-defining infrastructure platforms.”
The private investment firm also owns EMEA-focused Hscale, launched in May of this year, and US-focused DC Blox.
Founded in 2015, ChinData was purchased by Bain in 2019 from Wangsu Science & Technology Co. and merged with Bridge Data Centres, which was already part of the Bain portfolio. The combined company went public in 2020, with Bain retaining a 42 percent stake, and other companies, including SK Holdings, buying in.
In 2023, ChinData was then taken private in a $3.16bn merger deal, with local operators GDS and EQT-backed EdgeConneX said to have been considering offers, while state-backed China Merchants had a $3.4bn bid for the company rebuffed.
Reports began surfacing that Bain was seeking external backers for ChinData in March 2024, and in August 2025, it was reported that Bain was looking for a buyer.
TikTok-owner ByteDance is a major client of ChinData and its international sister company Bridge DC.
Source: DCD
