Tata Communications has started the process of selling its data centre business for more than $500 million. The company plans to raise cash to help pare its debt.

Tata Communications has reportedly hired Japanese bank Nomura to find suitors for the company’s data centre business across 44 locations in India and abroad. Besides India, Tata Communications has data centres in the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore, with over 1 million sq ft of co-location space, offering managed hosting and storage services.

The proposed sale of the unit will mark Tata Communications’ second major divestment after the recent sale of its South African telecom unit Neotel to Vodacom for $565 million.

Tata Communications, which has about $1.5-billion debt, has been working towards bringing down its high debt-equity ratio. The company has been exploring monetisation options for the data centre business for past few months.