Books on the Nvidia-backed data-center listing shut on Thursday with no price set. Offer documents came down from the investor data room, and listed backer Maas Group dropped as much as 30%.
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One of the largest planned listings in Australia's history has reached the point where public investors decide what private money was worth. So far, they are offering less.
Firmus Grid shut the institutional order book for its initial public offering on Thursday morning, Sydney time, a day ahead of the original schedule. Nvidia, Blackstone, Coatue and Jane Street have all invested in the Australian AI data-center operator. No final price or structure had emerged, according to people familiar with the deal.
The repricing
Firmus had marketed its shares at A$11 each, which implied a valuation of about A$43.7 billion and a raise of up to A$7.9 billion including an over-allotment option. Its banking syndicate began discussing a lower price on Wednesday after weak demand from offshore investors, and fund managers now expect about A$9 a share, according to people familiar with the talks. Some estimates go as low as A$8.25.
By Thursday afternoon in Sydney, bankers had also taken the offer documents down from the online room fund managers use to review the deal, as they worked to make it smaller. A listing scheduled for is in question, though no decision to withdraw has been announced.
At A$9, assuming the share count does not change, the valuation would fall to about A$35.8 billion, and the amount raised would be about A$1.3 billion lower. At A$8.25, the valuation would be about A$32.8 billion.
The step-up
Even the lower prices sit well above where private investors valued the company in August, at about $10.5 billion, or roughly A$15.1 billion at current exchange rates. A$11 represented about 2.9 times that figure. A$9 would be about 2.4 times and A$8.25 about 2.2 times.
The reprice, if it comes, would narrow the gain for private backers rather than turn it into a loss. Public buyers are still offering more than the last private round, just not as much more as sellers wanted.
The concerns
Investors cited the risk that existing shareholders sell soon after the listing, adding supply to a newly public stock, according to people familiar with the deal. Firmus runs two data centers today. It expects to lose about $77 million in the first half of fiscal 2027, even as it sells investors on a pipeline of larger projects in Australia and Singapore. Proceeds are earmarked largely for GPU purchases.
"I've never seen an IPO so polarising," said Jun Bei Liu, co-founder of Ten Cap Investment. "There was a lot of international investor interest, however, when it comes to the crunch, the demand seems like it isn't there when they were asked to put up the capital that's required."
The backer's shares
The strain showed first in a listed backer. Shares of Maas Group Holdings, which paid A$410 million for a 3.2% Firmus stake, dropped as much as 30% in Sydney trading, a record one-day fall for the stock. In a statement, Maas said it knew of nothing undisclosed that could account for the trading.
Private Valuations Meet Public Demand
One reading is that a lower price is a normal outcome for a very large deal, and that a listing at A$9 would still lock in a substantial gain over the August round and give AI-infrastructure peers a public benchmark.
Another reading is that the book tested how much public money will follow private AI valuations and found less than expected, which could affect other large data-center listings in the pipeline, including Singapore's DayOne Data Centers and London's Nscale.
The decision
The final price, any change to the size of the offer, and whether the listing proceeds will settle the immediate question. The first weeks of trading, if the deal goes ahead, will test the overhang concern directly.