Firmus scraps $43.7 billion ASX debut after investor cold feet
Australian data centre firm Firmus pulled its ASX listing after investors wouldn't pay the price it wanted.
Firmus stopped its IPO, which would have been the biggest on the ASX since Telstra in 1997. The data centre company had planned to list with a $43.7 billion value and raise $7.9 billion for growth in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The company cut its share price during the process and pulled the whole deal on Friday morning. The board said the deal no longer matched the company's long-term goals because of market swings.
Investors worried that big shareholders would sell lots of stock right after the listing. One money manager called it the most split IPO he'd seen, with global interest dying when asked to put in money.
Firmus will now look for money from private backers instead.
- $43.7 billion
- Planned valuation
- $7.9 billion
- Planned capital raise
- $50 million
- Latest annual revenue
- 2
- Operating data centres
Why it mattersThe failure raises questions about whether young Australian tech firms can reach huge values without real sales.
AustraliaAustralian investors and workers who backed Firmus now face delayed or reduced returns, and Australia's data centre ambitions may slow without the capital injection an ASX listing would have provided.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago
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