Nvidia-Backed Firmus Pulls A$5.5 Billion Australian IPO After Weak Demand
The AI data-center operator cut its offer price by 25% before withdrawing the float, according to Bloomberg.
Photo: Klauskazamias / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
Firmus Grid, an Australian AI data-center operator backed by Nvidia, has withdrawn its roughly A$5.5 billion initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange after demand fell short, according to Bloomberg. Bookbuilding closed on Thursday, October 8, without clearing the marketed price of A$11 per share.
The details
- Price cut: Firmus lowered the offer by 25%, to A$8.25, before pulling the deal
- Valuation: the implied equity value fell from almost A$44 billion to about A$33 billion
- Reason given: Firmus cited recent market volatility and said the offer did not reflect its long-term growth prospects
- Next step: the company said it plans to pursue private market funding while it considers other options
Build-out and backers
Bloomberg reported that only about 5% of the data-center capacity Firmus has sold to customers is built and operating, compared with roughly 25% at listed rival NextDC.
The company's financing included a US$10 billion debt package led by Blackstone and a US$2 billion equity commitment made in August by Nvidia, Jane Street and Blackstone. Proceeds were earmarked for GPUs for Firmus's first data center in Batam, Indonesia, which it is developing with DayOne Data Centers under an eight-year partnership with Nvidia.
Market impact
Maas Group, which owns a 3.2% stake in Firmus bought for about A$410 million, saw its Sydney shares fall as much as 30%, its largest recorded decline and about A$517 million in market value, according to reporting cited by AI News Weekly.
The outcome offers a public data point on how investors value AI infrastructure capacity that has been sold but not yet built. Firmus has not disclosed terms for any private funding round.
