Oliver Curtis AI data centre firm Firmus pulls multibillion-dollar ASX floatOliver Curtis’s AI infrastructure company Firmus has pulled its blockbuster ASX listing after investors baulked at its valuation.Heath Parkes-Hupton@heath_parkes4 min readOctober 9, 2026 - 12:45PMA blockbuster listing of Oliver Curtis’ AI infrastructure company Firmus on the Australian stock market has been pulled after plans collapsed this week.The tech start-up confirmed on Friday the Initial Public Offering (IPO) set for October 23 was now off after fervent media coverage of its struggles to gain traction in recent days.Firmus had hoped to raise US$5.5 billion with its IPO at $11 per share, with a valuation of close to $44 billion - making it the biggest float in a generation.This story is developing. For updates download our new appFirmus co-founder Oliver Curtis. Picture: Firmus Technologies GroupIt would have been the largest public float on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) since Tesltra in 1997 and made the data centre start-up almost as valuable as Woolworths.But reports emerged on Wednesday that investors were baulking at the price and valuation amid concerns over its revenue and the cash flow needed to meet its expansion plans in southeast Asia.Others you may likenewsnewsDo you know more? Email: heath.parkes-hupton@news.com.auThe Nvidia-backed Firmus released a statement on Friday revealing it had shelved its IPO.“Firmus has decided to withdraw its application to list on the ASX,” it said in a statement.“Having considered recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions, 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.Oliver Curtis with wife Roxy Jacenko. Picture: InstagramAnd co-chief executive of Firmus Tim Rosenfield. Picture: Supplied“The board therefore concluded that proceeding with the offer was not 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. We will provide additional information to shareholders as those options progress.”The Australian reported on Friday that Firmus was now considering listing on the NASDAQ, the US market, next year as it chases the huge capital needed to fund its data centres.Firmus was also weighing another private fundraising round, according to Bloomberg, including tapping US tech giant Nvidia which supplies hardware for the AI factories.Valuation ‘unthinkable’Friday’s news follows days of scrambling behind the scenes by Firmus’ bankers to keep the IPO alive, with reports emerging shares had been repriced as low as $5.50.Jun Bei Liu from Ten Cap said the decision was “not surprising” as it appeared Firmus had struggled to keep demand the company thought it had from offshore investors. The fund manager she founded was not going to participate in the IPO offering, with Ms Liu saying its valuation was “unthinkable” only a few months after capital was raised at a significantly lower price.Firmus was valued at only $15 billion a few months ago, and $6 billion in late 2025.“And when nothing’s changed for this business it just seems a bit too greedy,” she said.Ms Liu said Firmus could come back to the market but would need a much stronger track record of delivering on its ambitious expansion plans. 3Jun Bei Lui is a fund manager at Cap Ten. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.Ron Shamgar, the head of Australian equities at TAMIM. Picture: SuppliedFirmus currently only has two data centres in operation and had a reported revenue of US$50 million last year.“I think what it needs is that, as investors, what we need to see is that they actually have built their assets,” she said.“They just came to the market too early in its life cycle. “It hasn’t built most of the assets, so there’s a lot of uncertainty in terms of whether they have secured the water, the energy.”She said it seemed the IPO would proceed until a few days ago, with Firmus’ advisers previously reporting it had “indications ... well in excess of the offer size” of US$5.5 billion float at $11.“They spent a lot of time with overseas investors, they really didn’t allocate much time, to domestic institutional investors,” Ms Liu said. “So, in their mind, they had all the demand covered, apparently multiple times.”‘A repriced IPO is a dud’Ron Shamgar, head of Australian equities at TAMIM Asset Management, said the IPO was dead once news of the share repricing broke.“The moment that they couldn’t cover at $11, after telling everyone that it was well covered at $11 ... it was pretty obvious that (it would fail),” he said.“Every repriced IPO is a dud IPO.“It’s a confidence game. You need to keep raising money. And so the moment that people lose confidence ... I think investors are not going to put more money in. “And so it’s kind of like it’s a bit of a house of cards and it starts falling apart.”Mr Shamgar said it was unfortunate to see the Firmus plan unravel and mused that it might be difficult to come back to market after such a high-profile failure.“I wanted Firmus to do well because I actually quite like the idea of Australia becoming a bit of a hub for AI compute infrastructure,” he said.“I mean, we’re not going to have any sort of AI innovative kind of large language models or all those companies here. I think that’s all happening overseas. “So at least maybe we could provide the infrastructure and data centers for other companies around the world. “But unfortunately, I think they got too greedy with the valuation.”A Firmus AI factory mid-construction in St Leonards, Tasmania. Picture: Firmus TechnologiesThere had been debate before Firmus confirmed its IPO had been withdrawn over whether the company was the victim of “tall poppy syndrome” or if its numbers didn’t stack up.John Athanasiou, boss of Red Leaf Securities, agree that the IPO was overvalued but expressed frustration at its media coverage.“I thought the Firmus IPO was overvalued. I’m a stockbroker with no stake in it,” he wrote.“But the glee from some in the financial media at its setback is disappointing. “With a tax system that discourages innovation and a tall poppy culture, no wonder our best talent heads overseas.”Mark Gardner from MPC Markets called out a “hatchet job” from the media, but also hit brokers for “setting the IPO price at ridiculous levels”.More CoverageBrutal blow to Jacenko’s high-flying husbandHeath Parkes-HuptonKochie slams ‘gut punch’ on mortgage holdersCameron Micallef“This is why we can’t have nice things,” he said.Greg Canavan yesterday said talk of tall poppy syndrome was “bulls***” and on Friday delivered a blunt assessment on Firmus’ failure.“Trying to raise publicly at 3x the private valuation just two months prior. No one should be surprised,” he said. “Team Firmus have no one to blame but themselves.”Read related topics:ASXMore related storiesAustralian MarketsASX heads for worst month since US-Iran warThe Australian sharemarket is on track for its worst month since the US opened fire on Iran in February - and the pain is far from over.Read moreAustralian MarketsBanks drag ASX despite record US highsWall Street’s record-breaking session could not save the Australian sharemarket from closing lower - amid a dip in banking and mining shares.Read moreAustralian MarketsBrutal blow to Jacenko’s high-flying husbandThe husband of Aussie socialite Roxy Jacenko has suffered a major financial blow with his AI start-up forced to make a humiliating move.Read more