Nvidia-backed data center firm Firmus Grid to postpone Australia IPO - report

Investing.com -- Firmus Grid Ltd. plans to delay its initial public offering in Australia and is considering a private funding round instead, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The data center operator, which counts Nvidia Corp. among its backers, is in discussions with current investors and potential new participants for the private round, the report said. Order-taking for the IPO closed Thursday morning as scheduled, but no clear indication of pricing or deal structure emerged.

The deliberations are ongoing and details could still change, the report added.

Firmus sought to raise as much as $5.5 billion including a greenshoe option, at a price that would have valued the company at A$43.7 billion ($30.4 billion).

Some potential investors reportedly grew more cautious as the deal moved forward, expressing concern that existing shareholders might sell large amounts of stock soon after the company's market debut. The potential selling pressure added to questions over what some investors viewed as aggressive pricing.

The company started as a Bitcoin mining operation in Australia in 2019 and has grown alongside rising demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure across Asia. It has a pipeline of data center projects in Australia and Singapore.

Proceeds from the listing would have funded purchases of graphics processing units for its first data center project in Batam, Indonesia, being developed with DayOne Data Centers Ltd. The project is part of an eight-year partnership with Nvidia. Singapore-based DayOne has filed for a U.S. IPO and is seeking to raise as much as $5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Firmus has secured $2 billion in commitments from investors including Nvidia and Blackstone Inc. Other existing shareholders include Jane Street. The company also raised $505 million in a funding round led by Coatue Management in April.

Original Article

You May Also Be Interested In

• ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent order $35 billion of Nvidia chips: Reuters
• Wells Fargo says S&P 500 buy signal emerges as investors turn excessively bearish
• Almonty Industries (ALM) PT Lowered to $21 at Stifel on 'Push Out of Sandong Shipments'