However, additional details of the transaction were not disclosed in the statement.
The deal marks KKR’s latest investment in Southeast Asia’s digital infrastructure. The group currently has existing investments which include the regional data centre of Singapore Telecommunications and Philippines-based digital infrastructure company Pinnacle Towers.
KKR’s investment will be used to accelerate OMS’s growth, including expanding fleet size and capabilities and investing in cable landing stations and subsea cable routes, the statement said.
OMS installs undersea cable for technology and telecommunications companies and has offices in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Its past notable projects include the Papua New Guinea National Submarine Fibre Cable Network and the South-East Japan Asia Japan Cable System 2, according to the group’s website.
Its fleet includes Cable Vigilance, a 5,448 gross tonnage cable-laying and repair ship.
OMS had been weighing a listing in Kuala Lumpur as soon as this year, Bloomberg News reported last year.
However, it had reportedly put its plan to list on hold due to unfavourable market conditions.
The initial public offering (IPO), which could raise US$300 million (RM1.42 billion), would have been the biggest in Malaysia since 2020 when home improvement retailer Mr DIY Group went public, raising RM1.5 billion.
Growing infrastructure demand
Southeast Asia has been attracting the attention of global investors as increasing digitisation sparked demand for infrastructure development, namely data centres, phone towers, fibre and submarine cables.
Earlier this year, Philippines-based PLDT Inc agreed to sell a portfolio of telecommunications towers to a firm backed by KKR for over 12.1 billion pesos (RM1 billion).
PLDT is Philippines’s largest telecommunications company in terms of assets and revenues.
Data centre companies including ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, backed by Temasek Holdings Pte, and China’s GDS Holdings Ltd are also reportedly seeking to raise funds by bringing in new global investors.