By Atharva Singh and Prakhar Srivastava
July 16 (Reuters) - Brookfield-backed data center provider Csquare's shares opened marginally lower before trading down about 3% in their New York Stock Exchange debut on Thursday, after the initial public offering was priced below its marketed range.
Shares opened at $20.9 after the Dallas-based company priced its IPO at $21 per share, below its marketed range of $23 to $27, valuing the firm at $3.24 billion. It was last trading at $20.37.
The debut underscores
investors' caution toward new listings, even for companies benefiting from booming AI-driven data center demand, as markets scrutinize valuations and pricing.
The company's decision to price below its marketed range suggests investors remain selective despite the AI frenzy.
"Csquare likely had to price below the range because investors saw attractive exposure to data-center demand amid substantial leverage and continued losses," said IPOX Research Associate Lukas Muehlbauer.
"Investors were not willing to support the marketed range, pointing to a selective buyer's market that is not simply taking anything with AI exposure at any cost."
However, growing investor appetite for companies supporting AI development has sparked a wave of listings in the sector.
The debut comes a week after South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix's $26.5-billion U.S. listing.
It also follows the blockbuster debut of chip designer Cerebras Systems, as well as Blackstone-backed data center REIT, which raised $1.75 billion in its U.S. IPO in May.
"Still, completing the deal shows that the market remains open for AI-infrastructure companies, although the reception looks disciplined rather than overheated," Muehlbauer added.
Brookfield is expected to retain voting control of Csquare following the offering, according to a IPO filing.
Founded in 2019, Csquare owns and operates data centers across North America and Europe, providing space, power and connectivity services to enterprise customers, cloud providers and telecommunications companies.
(Reporting by Atharva Singh and Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
