Firmus cancelled its roughly $5 billion IPO on October 9

Datacenter operator Firmus cancelled its initial public offering, or IPO, on October 9, abandoning a planned share sale intended to raise around $5 billion, The Register said in its October 26 report. The offering would have been Australia’s largest in 20 years and would have valued the company at more than $40 billion.

Firmus already operates four datacenters—facilities that house computing equipment—with two in Australia and two in Singapore. Private investors had already put more than $2 billion into the company before the proposed public fundraising.

Investors reportedly sought a lower price

In the days before the planned offering, prospective buyers reportedly asked Firmus to cut its share price, and therefore its valuation, by perhaps a quarter. They feared that the company’s prospectus—the document setting out the proposed share sale—contained very optimistic revenue forecasts. Firmus subsequently cancelled the offering.

What the cancellation affects

The abandoned share sale was separate from both the money private investors had already invested and Meta’s reported commitment to spend more than $700 million with Firmus. Meta’s commitment is customer spending, not proceeds from the IPO or private equity investment.