Nvidia-backed Firmus pulls its $5 billion IPO after investors balk at the price

Firmus, the Australian AI data-center operator backed by Nvidia, Blackstone, Coatue and Jane Street, withdrew its planned US$5 billion initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026 (Sydney time). The company said market volatility meant the terms would not reflect the strength of its business, and that it will raise money privately instead.

For two years the rule in AI infrastructure has been simple: say “Nvidia-backed AI factory” and the money shows up. Firmus just found the limit. Investors were happy to own a piece of the AI build-out, but not at triple August’s price, for a company with two leased sites, a plan to carry about $30 billion of debt, and a big construction partner walking away the week of the deal. That doesn’t mean the AI trade is over; the giants are still borrowing tens of billions with ease. It means public-market buyers are starting to read the prospectus instead of just the press release, and every neocloud planning a listing on borrowed money just got a very expensive memo.

Firmus withdrew its planned initial public offering and its application to list on the ASX, the Australian Securities Exchange, on Friday, 9 October 2026, Sydney time. An IPO is a company’s first sale of shares to the public. In a statement, Firmus said: “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,” and that “proceeding with the offer was not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.” Those lines are the company’s.

Firmus said it will “pursue capital from the private markets and consider alternative public and private market options.” In a letter to shareholders, co-founders Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield referred to “alternative international public market options.” Reuters cited a person involved in the deal saying a private round would be followed by a Nasdaq listing; Firmus declined to comment on that. Bloomberg reported the company was exploring raising up to $3 billion from existing investors. The Nasdaq line is Reuters’ unnamed source. The $3 billion figure is Bloomberg’s. They are not a company confirmation.

The offer aimed to raise about US$5 billion at A$11 a share, valuing Firmus at about US$30.6 billion, roughly A$44 billion. That was nearly triple the US$10.5 billion valuation from its August round, which was backed by Nvidia, Coatue, Blackstone, and Jane Street. It would have been the second-largest new share sale in Australian history and, according to Dealogic, the fourth-largest IPO globally this year, behind SpaceX, CXMT, and Cerebras. The bookrunners — the banks running the sale — were Bank of America, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Morgans. Those figures are Reuters’ and ABC’s.

Reuters reported that investors began pulling orders on Wednesday, 7 October, after CDC Data Centres chief executive Greg Boorer said on a podcast that a plan to develop 1.6 gigawatts of AI data centers with Firmus was no longer going ahead, and after being told escrow terms would let existing investors sell more than half the stock from day one. Escrow terms, here, are the rules on when existing shareholders can sell. A gigawatt is a measure of power — enough electricity for a very large campus of computers. Firmus had considered cutting the price before pulling the deal. Those lines are Reuters’, citing people involved in the IPO.

Firmus runs two leased data centers, in Melbourne and Singapore, and plans five more across Asia-Pacific. Analysts working for the lead managers estimated its debt at about US$30 billion. ABC reported the company expects about US$30 billion of debt once its data centers are built, about six times the US$5 billion of operating earnings it forecasts for 2028. Nvidia owns about 7.2% of Firmus. The two-site count and the analysts’ debt estimate are Reuters’. The 2028 earnings comparison and the 7.2% stake are ABC’s.

Last month Firmus signed agreements to provide GPU computing capacity to Meta at its Southeast Asian data centers. A GPU is the chip that does the heavy math for AI models. Those agreements are Firmus’s, as CNBC reports them.

John Pearce, chief investment officer at UniSuper, said: “We think that Firmus indeed has a compelling story. It just doesn’t have a compelling valuation.” Oscar Oberg of Wilson Asset Management, a Firmus investor, said: “The market has spoken.” Those quotations are ABC’s and Reuters’.

In plain terms, Nvidia-backed Firmus pulled its planned US$5 billion Australian listing on Friday. The company said market conditions meant the terms would not match the strength of the business, and that it will raise money privately instead. The deal would have valued Firmus at about US$30.6 billion, nearly triple August’s price, for a company with two leased sites, a plan to carry about US$30 billion of debt, and a construction partner that walked away the week of the sale. UniSuper’s Pearce said the story was compelling and the valuation was not.