The News
Firmus Pulls What Would Have Been Australia’s Biggest Float Since 1997
On October 9 in Australia, the AI infrastructure company Firmus withdrew its application to list on the Australian Securities Exchange, citing recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions. The company said it will now pursue capital from private markets and consider alternative public and private market options.
The offer was marketed at A$11 a share, implying an equity valuation of roughly US$30.6 billion, and the listing was scheduled for October 23. It would have been the second-largest IPO in Australian history, behind Telstra’s 1997 share sale.
Demand did not arrive. Order books closed on Thursday without final pricing, and advisers reportedly floated cutting the price to A$9 and then A$8.25 before the board pulled the transaction entirely. The board said the available terms would not appropriately reflect the strength of the company’s business.
The valuation history is the striking part. Firmus announced a fully subscribed $2 billion equity investment on August 7 at a post-money valuation above $10.5 billion. Two months later it asked public investors for roughly three times that.
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The Company Behind It
A Crypto Miner Turned AI Landlord With Powerful Backers
Firmus was founded in 2019 as a crypto mining and high-performance computing business specializing in immersion cooling, then pivoted to AI data centres in late 2024, applying that thermal engineering to high-density GPU workloads.
Its shareholder register reads like a who’s who of AI finance. Nvidia holds about 7.2%, Coatue roughly 8.4%, and Blackstone about 6.7%, with Jane Street also invested, and Blackstone and Coatue provided a $10 billion debt facility in February.
What it has actually built is more modest. Firmus operates AI data centres in Melbourne and Singapore with five additional Asia-Pacific facilities in early development, expects a US$77 million loss for the current half, and days before the withdrawal its partner CDC Data Centres ended their Australian buildout after completing roughly 2.5% of a 1.6-gigawatt plan.
Why This Matters Financially
Public Markets Price Differently Than Private Rounds
The gap is the lesson. Private rounds are negotiated with investors who already hold stock and benefit from higher marks; a public bookbuild asks indifferent institutions what they will actually pay, and those two numbers diverged by roughly threefold here.
Timing made it worse. The bookbuild ran the same week questions about AI revenue knocked chip stocks lower, so Firmus asked for its highest-ever valuation precisely as sentiment turned.
Capital still exists, just at a different price. Choosing private funding over a discounted listing means accepting dilution privately rather than letting a public market set a number the existing holders dislike.
Limits and Uncertainty
The Catch: Withdrawal Is Not Repricing
Pulling a float avoids a public mark but does not establish a new one. Firmus has disclosed no size, valuation, or terms for the private capital it now intends to raise, so what the business is actually worth remains unsettled.
The underlying questions also stay open. A company with two operating data centres, a loss this half, and a flagship partnership that collapsed must still fund an enormous buildout against a $10 billion debt facility. Other neoclouds including Nscale and Lambda have been preparing listings of their own, and this outcome gives them a visible data point on what public investors will tolerate. An Australian investor summed up the verdict simply, saying the listing could have worked if it was correctly priced.
The withdrawal matters because it is the clearest test yet of whether public markets will pay private-market prices for AI infrastructure. The real impact depends on what valuation Firmus accepts privately, and whether other neoclouds adjust their own expectations before trying the same door.
Disclosure: This content is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. You should always conduct your own research or consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
