Nvidia-backed Australian AI data center firm Firmus has now scrapped its planned $5 billion IPO after struggling to attract sufficient investor demand, according to multiple media reports on Friday.
Investor Maas Group Holdings confirmed that Firmus has decided to withdraw its application to list on the ASX, citing a non-public statement.
In the statement, the company, which was set to float on Oct. 23, cited recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions, according to Maas. Firmus' board said it would pursue private funding instead, abandoning a proposed listing that would have valued it at roughly $30 billion, The Latent previously reported.
"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 said. "The board therefore concluded that proceeding with the offer was not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders."
The withdrawal follows Bloomberg's reporting on Thursday that the offering had closed its order books amid concerns over its valuation, with some investors questioning the potential returns on AI infrastructure investment.
Firmus did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Latent.
'Blow to the market'
Firmus' IPO would have been the fourth-largest globally this year, behind SpaceX, CXMT Corp, and Cerebras Systems, according to Dealogic data cited by Reuters, and the second-largest Australia-listed IPO on record after Telstra Corp's $10 billion listing in 1997.
"It's a blow to the market, not getting off one of these big listings," Jamie Hannah, deputy head of Investments and Capital Markets at VanEck Australia, told Reuters. "We do want to see bigger transactions take place on the market. And I think most Australians who invest would like to see more opportunities as well."
Firmus started as a bitcoin mining firm in 2019. Its portfolio now spans seven AI data centers across Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, with two operational and five under development.
In September, Firmus announced that it had signed strategic AI infrastructure agreements with Meta for GPU compute capacity at its sites in Southeast Asia. The company has also signed a multi-year deal with OpenAI, which will take dedicated AI compute capacity from two Firmus sites in Malaysia.
Firmus is also reportedly seeking a roughly $10 billion financing package to buy Nvidia chips for its data center in Indonesia.