Firmus pulls biggest ASX float since Telstra amid investor doubt about datacentre company

The offer would have been the biggest debut on the stock market since the telecommunication giant in 1997

Firmus Technologies has scrapped what was set to be Australia’s biggest company listing in decades after investor demand for its much-hyped AI data centre business failed to materialise.

A Firmus spokesperson said the board decided that proceeding with the offer was no longer in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.

“Firmus will now pursue capital from the private markets and consider alternative public and private market options,” the spokesperson said on Friday morning.

“We will provide additional information to shareholders as those options progress.”

Firmus, with an anticipated $44bn valuation, was expected to be the biggest ASX listing since Telstra in 1997.

But it faced mounting scepticism over its huge valuation, and forecast earnings, for a company in its start-up phase with just two, small operational sites .

Backed by chip maker Nvidia and Wall Street firms Blackstone, Jane Street and Coatue, Firmus’s backers believed they could raise billions of dollars by selling shares in a public float with the help of five brokers.

The lack of demand means Firmus will need to raise funds from private investors to fund its plans to build liquid-cooled “AI factories” in Australia and across Asia.