Firmus, an Australian data centre operator backed by Nvidia and with OpenAI as an anchor customer, is set to delay its planned initial public offering (IPO) and is considering raising private capital instead, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company is in talks with existing investors and others to raise capital, according to the report. Order-taking for the IPO closed as scheduled on Thursday morning, but there was no clear indication of the final pricing or deal structure. The company is still weighing its options, and deliberations remain ongoing, the report said, adding that details could change.
Firmus did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The firm had been seeking to raise up to $5.5 billion through its IPO, including a greenshoe option, in what could have been Australia's second-largest listing on record after Telstra's $10 billion float in 1997. Earlier this month, Firmus priced the IPO at A$11 per share, giving it a valuation of about $30.6 billion, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.
On Thursday, newspapers reported that Firmus and its advisors were considering reducing the size of the IPO and lowering the per-share price from A$11 to A$8.25. The deal's initial term sheet had said indicative offers for the IPO were already above the deal's size. But some potential investors told Reuters they were cautious about the company's burgeoning valuation, its ability to execute on its ambitious growth plans, and its hefty debt pile.
Broader market concerns about AI have been rising. A Reuters report cited a key line: "Sentiment towards AI has shifted sharply in recent weeks as concerns over high valuations have raised worries that the technology is slipping from human control and that the massive amounts spent on it may not pay off." The AI build-out now dwarfs, as a share of US GDP, the railroads, highways, electrification and telecom booms the United States has seen in the past 200 years.