TPG Capital is currently participating in two separate bids for the Australian satellite unit of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. The private equity firm is bidding for a business reportedly valued by the Australian Financial Review as a little over Aus$2 billion or US$1.9 billion.

TPG is one of the firms included in the Blackstone Group bid while it is also one of the financial backers of MEASAT for the Malaysian satellite business' bid for the asset.

The buyout firm declined to provide a comment on the matter.

Other bidders that submitted for the first round for the Australian satellite unit are Eutelsat Communications SA, a trade buyer and other private equity firms such as KKR, Carlyle Group and SES. The bidding is also participated in by Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings, Sky Perfect Jsat Holdings Inc., Intelsat and Inmarsat of Britain

SingTel is the largest telecommunications operator in Southeast Asia. It has placed Optus' Australian unit up for sale to boost revenues at a time of tepid growth as key markets of Singapore and Australia show little improvement.