*

Sources said in January the IPO could be worth up to $1

billion

*

IPO portfolio made up of assets valued at $1.6 billion

*

Cornerstone investors include GIC and other investment

firms

(Adds NTT response in paragraph 4; identity of banks working on

IPO in paragraphs 13-14)

By Yantoultra Ngui

SINGAPORE, June 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Nippon Telegraph

and Telephone Corp ( NPPXF ) has lodged a preliminary

initial public offering prospectus for its data centre real

estate investment trust NTT DC REIT on Singapore's stock

exchange, according to information published on the Monetary

Authority of Singapore's website on Friday.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the company was looking

to lodge the prospectus with the Singapore regulator as early as

this week and list on the Singapore Exchange as early as July,

citing two sources with knowledge of the matter.

The prospectus did not disclose the IPO amount but the two

sources had said in January it could be worth up to $1 billion

in what would be the largest in Singapore in several years. The

prospectus also did not say when the IPO would be launched.

In an emailed response to Reuters on Friday, NTT said the

IPO amount and timetable will be available in the final version

of the prospectus on its registration.

The last listing of similar size was a $977 million IPO for

Digital Core REIT in 2021, LSEG data showed.

The IPO portfolio comprises six data centre assets located

in the United States, Austria and Singapore, with a total

appraised value of about $1.6 billion, according to the

preliminary prospectus.

The sponsor of NTT DC REIT is NTT Ltd, which is

part of Japanese telecommunication giant NTT.

Cornerstone investors include Singapore sovereign wealth

fund GIC and private investment and asset management

firms such as AM Squared Ltd and Viridian Asset Management Ltd,

the prospectus showed.

Cornerstone investors are large institutional investors that

subscribe to an IPO offering before it is open to the public.

There is growing interest from companies seeking to list on

the Singapore Exchange, after the city-state announced

measures in February to strengthen its equities market,

including a 20% tax rebate for primary listings.

Hong Kong-listed China Medical System ( CHSYF ) said on

Tuesday it had applied for a secondary listing of its shares on

the Singapore Exchange.

IPO proceeds raised on the Singapore Exchange surged more

than five-fold to $331.6 million in the first half of this year,

from $59.3 million the same period a year ago, LSEG data showed.

Bank of America ( BAC ) and UBS are the joint issue

managers, global coordinators, bookrunners and underwriters of

the IPO, the prospectus showed.

Mizuho is the joint global coordinator,

bookrunner and underwriter, while Citigroup ( C/PN ) and DBS

are joint bookrunners and underwriters.