The Sydney-based company, founded by Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee, had planned to raise about $7 billion to build data centres across Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The float was backed by global AI giant Nvidia and investment firm Blackstone, with Firmus having previously said it secured $US2 billion in commitments from investors.
By Wednesday night, the IPO plans began to unravel as reports emerged that bankers were considering lowering the share price and valuation towards $30 billion. The per-share offer price, initially set at $11, had reportedly fallen to $8.25 by Thursday. That same day, Firmus withdrew from appearing at a federal parliamentary inquiry into AI as it scrambled to save the listing.
By Friday, the float was pulled.
Morningstar senior market strategist Lochlan Holloway said the company was being given a valuation similar to Woolworths while making the revenue of a start-up. "The economics look good now and the growth is very fast now, but what that looks like again in five or 10 years is the big question mark," he said.
Philip Wohl from Reliance Investment Research said the timing was wrong: "Firmus ran into a wall of AI anxiety right at the time that they had planned to list." He noted that fears of an AI bubble, combined with community and political concerns about the rapid rise of data centres, also played a part.
Another factor was Mr Curtis's past. He served a year in jail in 2016-17 for insider trading before co-founding Firmus as a bitcoin mining company in 2019.
The founders are now hoping to pursue further private funding and Firmus will attempt to list on the Nasdaq next year.