German Bitcoin miner and cloud computing platform Northern Data AG is reportedly in talks with advisors to go public in the US. Stake in its artificial intelligence cloud computing and data center businesses will be up for grabs by the public at a combined valuation ranging in the $10 billion to $16 billion bracket.
As far as the timeline, the exchange that will be roped in, and other nomenclature-related details are concerned, a recent report pointed out,
Northern Data would list an entity comprising its cloud computing activities, dubbed Taiga, and its data centers, called Ardent, on the Nasdaq as early as in the first half of next year.
According to unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, the company has asked “several potential advisors'' to pitch for a role. The entity could also end up mandating lead banks in the coming months.
Prior to the listing, Northern Data can be expected to sell a minority stake in the unit to investors. However, it all needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Bloomberg’s sources pointed out,
Deliberations are ongoing, details may change and the company could decide not to go ahead with the strategic options under consideration.
In Q4 last year, Northern Data informed investors that it was considering an IPO solely for its cloud unit. It also unveiled that it was contemplating a US listing for its Bitcoin mining operations.
Around the same time, it amassed $610 million in debt financing from stablecoin giant Tether to bolster its mining and AI business.
Pre-Merge, the firm was also involved in Ethereum mining. In fact, at one point in 2022, 70% of its operations were dedicated to Ether, making it one of the top miners of the second largest crypto asset.
However, after Ethereum’s shift to the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, the firm started yet again focussing on Bitcoin.
In other related news, Web3 giant Animoca Brands is also planning to go public in the second half of next year. As reported recently, it is considering crypto-friendly jurisdictions like Hong Kong and the Middle East for its potential listing.
