Nvidia-Backed Firmus Grid Set to Pull Australia IPO and Pursue Private Funding Round Instead

Firmus Grid Ltd., the Australian data center company backed by Nvidia, is set to postpone its planned initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange after the deal failed to attract adequate investor support, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is now weighing a private funding round with existing investors and new parties as an alternative path to raising capital.

The planned listing had sought to raise at least $5 billion, with the deal marketed at A$11 per share and a potential total size of $5.5 billion including a greenshoe option. Bookbuilding closed as scheduled Thursday morning in Australia, but no clear indication of price or deal structure emerged, a signal the offering had cratered. Investor concern centered on whether the company could attract sufficient support at the marketed price.

The collapse of the deal is being read as a broader warning about appetite for AI infrastructure investment. Firmus, which began operations in Australia in 2019 and expanded into Singapore, had been positioned as one of Australia's largest-ever IPOs and a flagship test of investor confidence in the AI data center buildout across Asia-Pacific.