Firmus plans to give half of up-to-$5.5bn IPO to existing investors, sources say
Two people told Reuters the Nvidia-backed data centre operator will give about half the shares to existing backers, and that banks expect to close the book a day early. The price is A$11 a share, a term sheet shows.
Firmus, the Australian AI data centre operator backed by Nvidia, plans to allocate about half of its up to US$5.5 billion initial public offering, including the over-allotment, to selected existing strategic and financial investors, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on October 5.
Firmus said in an email it had “no comment or further detail to provide at this time.”
The shares are fixed at A$11, a price that values Firmus at about US$30.6 billion, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. That is nearly triple the US$10.5 billion post-money valuation of its August strategic round. The sale would be Australia’s second-largest IPO on record, after Telstra’s US$10 billion listing in 1997.
Bookbuilding was due to begin on Tuesday, October 6, Reuters reported. The two people said banks now expect to close the institutional book on Thursday, a day earlier than the Friday close set out in the term sheet. One of them said indications of interest had exceeded the shares available. The prospectus is due on October 12 and ASX trading starts on October 23.
Firmus operates data centres in Melbourne and Singapore. Its backers include Nvidia, Coatue, Blackstone and Jane Street. Bank of America, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Morgans are leading the IPO.