Nvidia-Backed Firmus Scraps Near-$5 Billion Australian IPO in a Dazzling Fall
Nvidia-backed Firmus scrapped its Australian IPO, which would have been the biggest listing since Telstra in 1997, citing recent market volatility.
Firmus, the Nvidia-backed data center company, scrapped its planned Australian IPO, pulling what would have been the second-largest listing in the country's history. The Wall Street Journal called it a new sign that investors are "growing leery of lofty valuations for companies exposed to artificial-intelligence demand."
Darlings, this was supposed to be a coronation. ABC News reports the company was close to listing on the ASX at a $43.7 billion market capitalisation, which would have been the biggest Australian IPO since Telstra in 1997. Instead we got a withdrawn application and a statement.
The numbers, in all their glittering disagreement
The outlets do not agree on the size of the prize, so let us lay out the menu. Nikkei Asia says Firmus aimed to raise up to AU$7.9 billion ($5.5 billion) at AU$11 per share, a valuation of AU$43.9 billion ($30.7 billion). ABC News describes plans to raise about $7 billion. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters put the target at $5 billion, at a valuation of roughly $30 billion. Whichever menu you order from, it was a very large dinner.
The price then slid. ABC reports the offer price had reportedly fallen from $11 to $8.25 by Thursday, as bankers considered cutting the valuation toward $30 billion. ABC lists the high per-share price among a mixture of factors behind the float's demise.
Firmus's own explanation is that the Board "determined that the terms on which the Offer could proceed would not appropriately reflect the strength of the Company's business and long-term growth outlook." The company also cited recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions when it withdrew its ASX listing application.
What Firmus actually is
Firmus was founded in 2019 by Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee as a bitcoin mining company, according to ABC. The same report notes Curtis served a year in jail in 2016-17 for insider trading before co-founding the business. Today, per Nikkei, it deploys Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale systems with its own liquid-cooling system in facilities it calls "AI Factories," leasing the capacity to customers including OpenAI and Meta.
The backers are a who's who. Nvidia holds a 7.2 percent stake and has reportedly provided funding as well as selling Firmus its chips, ABC says. Over the past year Firmus raised more than $3 billion in equity at a valuation above $10.5 billion, with Nvidia and Coatue taking part, and Blackstone extended $10 billion in debt financing in February, according to Nikkei. Reuters also lists Jane Street among the investors, a name ABC and Nikkei do not mention.
In a draft prospectus, Firmus said it would generate $5 billion in annual earnings within five years from its data center portfolio. That is a magnificent forecast. The present is smaller. Nikkei quotes Rosenberg saying: "The offer was too rich for a company with 46 megawatts built out of 912 MW contracted." Per Nikkei's reporting, Firmus has two operational sites, in Australia and Singapore, and five in development across Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The ripples
The damage was not tidy. Nikkei reports trading in Maas Group Holdings, a construction services company working on Firmus projects, was halted after the stock fell almost 30 percent amid reports the IPO was in trouble. Maas holds a 3.2 percent stake in Firmus. It then said it continues to deliver on previously announced contracts, with work orders totaling about AU$1.1 billion over fiscal 2026 and 2027.
The Wall Street Journal's report carried a 2.94 percent decline in Nvidia shares. The WSJ, incidentally, calls the company Firmus Grid, while ABC and Nikkei say Firmus Technologies or simply Firmus.
Then there is the curious matter of Thursday morning. ABC reports that as Firmus scrambled to save the IPO, it withdrew from appearing at a federal parliamentary inquiry into AI. The reporting we have does not say why.
What to watch
Firmus says it will now "pursue capital from the private markets and consider alternative public and private market options." Sources told the Australian Financial Review that it is looking at a Nasdaq listing, according to Nikkei. Nothing official yet on timing, valuation or structure.
The larger question is the build-out: 46 megawatts operating against 912 contracted leaves 866 to go, and the reports do not say how that gets funded without a public float. Watch Maas and its work orders. Watch whether Firmus is called back to that inquiry.
And watch the mood. One scrapped listing is one scrapped listing, but when the very large numbers get a polite no, even the most glamorous among us notice. I remain a believer. The market, for this would-be coronation at least, wanted a lower price.
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Sources
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
Three outlets, three raise sizes ($5 billion, $5.5 billion, about $7 billion), and a $5 billion annual earnings projection that lives in a draft prospectus. ABC's reported offer-price cut supplies the least glamorous number of all: smaller.
46 megawatts running out of 912 contracted. That is the figure I would look at: what you can run today versus what is on the slide. The Nasdaq plan is still a source's word to the Australian Financial Review.
