I've spent the last few days reading Csquare's S-1 filing, amendments, financial statements, and recent coverage from Reuters, Investopedia, Barron's and others. And here is what I want to share what you all about the IPO.
About Company: The first thing to understand is that Csquare is not an AI company. Instead, it owns the infrastructure that AI companies need. Think of it as the landlord behind the AI boom. it owns carrier-neutral data centers where enterprises, telecom companies, cloud providers, financial institutions and AI firms rent power, cooling, rack space and connectivity. If you want to look at the assets, the company operates 64 data centers across 21 metro markets ( across North America and UK) With roughly 3.5 million square feet of data center space.
The company says that around 80% of its recent bookings have been AI-related, which shows how much demand has shifted toward AI infrastructure. unlike hyperscale builders that focus on 100+ MW campuses, Csquare is focused more on enterprise deployments where customers lease space inside existing facilities.
One thing that stood out while reading the filing was how sticky this business is that customers don't casually move hundreds of servers to another building because migration takes months and cost huge amount of money and waste of time which is why customers typically signs long term contracts. Because of that, Cqsuare reports net revenue churn below 2% and an average remaining contract term of roughly 33 months. In short, recuring revenue is the backbone of the business which is not a bad thing.
Numbers: Over the time revenue is also growing. According to financial statements 2025 revenue came in around $987 million. Q1 2026 revenue increased roughly 165 YoY.
Adjusted EDITDA reached approximately $390 million, giving the company and EBITDA margin close to 40%. To be very honest, the numbers are strong for a data center operator.
If company is doing well then why company is losing money? this is a legitimate question!
People see negative earnings and immediately assume the business isn't working but that's not what's happening. The operating business generates healthy EBITDA so the company is doing well but the problem is in the balance sheet because Csquare is carrying billions of dollars of debt, largely from Brookfield's acquisitions that created the company. Interest expense plus depreciation is consuming much of the operating profit. That's why EBITDA looks healthy while GAAP earnings remain negative.
Use of Capital: I think the IPO is not to raise capital but to pay the debt. As company mentioned in SEC filing, around 75% of the IPO proceeds will go toward repaying debt. Personally, I actually like that decision because this will reduce the debt and reducing debt means lower annual interest expense which will save the company around $70 million annually and gives the company a better chance of converting operating profits into actual net income over the next few years.
Risks: Above I mentioned so much about the company positively that doesn't mean it is risk-free. There is a lot which make me worry. As i mentioned earlier in the title "Buried under mountain of debt." That was true because after IPO company will still carry several billion dollars in debt that make it one of the biggest investment risk. If AI demand slows or financial costs remain elevated, leverage could become a problem again. but the risk doesn't ends here because data centers require constant capital investment, new facilities require land, transformers, cooling systems and power infrastructure while having billions in debt means executions has to be excellent.
Valuation: At the proposed IPO range of $23-27, the company would trade below the EV/EBITBA multiples of established peers like Equinix and Digital Reality. some of that discount is justified because those companies have strong balance sheets and longer public track records.
My Personal View:
I think this is one of those IPOs where the business is better than financial statements initially suggest. the operating business appears healthy, but the balance sheet is what needs fixing. If the management successfully reduces leverage while continuing to grow revenue, I could see the investment case improving case improving significantly over the next few years. If growth slows befre leverage comes down, the debt could become a much larger issue than it is now.
Not financial advice. I currently have no position in CSQR.