By Scott Murdoch
SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Australian data centre operator Firmus has priced its shares at $A11.00 each as it aims to raise A$7.1 billion ($4.94 billion) from its initial public offering, a term sheet reviewed by Reuters showed on Thursday.
The price gives Firmus an equity valuation of $30.6 billion and the deal is the second largest IPO in Australian history.
Firmus declined to comment on the IPO pricing on Thursday.
The company is estimated to have about $30 billion worth of debt, according to analysts from the banks working on the IPO, which gives Firmus an enterprise value of about $60 billion.
The IPO book building will begin on Tuesday, the term sheet said, and close on Friday. Indicative orders from potential investors are already above the deal’s size, the term sheet said.
Australian IPOs typically set the price first before official book building begins after consultation with investors during roadshows.
Firmus could raise an extra $500 million from an over-allotment option, or so-called green shoe, according to the term sheet.
The stock is due to start trading on the Australian Securities Exchange on October 23.
Firmus has two operational data centres in Australia and Singapore. Five are under development across the Asia-Pacific.
Firmus said in August it had raised $2 billion in equity in a funding round, to ramp up the rollout of AI factories in Australia and Asia Pacific, taking Firmus’ post-money valuation to above $10.5 billion.
At $5 billion, the IPO would rank as the fourth-largest globally so far this year, behind SpaceX, CXMT Corp and Cerebras Systems, according to Dealogic data. It would also be the second-largest Australian-listed IPO on record, behind only Telstra’s $10 billion share sale in 1997.
($1 = 1.4384 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Scott MurdochEditing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan )
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