By Greg Roumeliotis and Liana B. Baker
(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc
A sale would represent the latest effort by Verizon, the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier, to streamline its portfolio following a divestment last year of a chunk of its landline business and a portfolio of wireless towers.
It would also mark a reversal of its strategy to expand in hosting and colocation services after it acquired data centre operator Terremark Worldwide Inc in 2011 for $1.4 billion.
The so-called 'colocation' portfolio up for sale includes 48 data centres, and generates annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of around $275 million, one of the people said.
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Citigroup Inc
The sources asked not to be identified because the auction is confidential. Verizon and Citigroup declined to comment.
Verizon initially explored a sale of a larger portion of its enterprise business, including the former MCI assets, but could not reach an agreement with a buyer. It held discussions with wireline provider CenturyLink Inc
The enterprise telecommunications industry has had to adapt in recent years to corporate customers seeking more sophisticated and cheaper offerings to manage their data. Verizon joins a host of its rivals in telecommunications who are shedding their data centres.
AT&T Inc
Verizon has been facing stiff competition from companies such as T-Mobile US Inc
(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Liana B. Baker in New York; Additional reporting by Malathi Nayak in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr)