Firmus scraps $44b float, Bell Bay data centre funding in doubt

Firmus Technologies abandoned a stock market float that would have valued the company at $44 billion earlier this month, after investor interest in the listing failed to materialise, the ABC reported on 29 October. The float, had it proceeded, would have been the biggest Australian public offering since Telstra.

Firmus now says it will pursue private funding instead of a public listing. Some of its investors are entitled to extra shares if the company does not complete a qualifying float by 30 November, a deadline the company now has to meet without the float it just walked away from.

Why it matters

The scrapped float does not fix the funding gap The Australian Developer reported on 23 October, when Firmus told a Tasmanian parliamentary inquiry that its Launceston and Wesley Vale stage one sites were funded but its 288MW Bell Bay AI factory, on the Tamar River near George Town, was not. A planned public listing was one route to closing that gap, and Firmus now has to find private capital instead, against the 30 November deadline attached to its own investor terms.

Firmus’s forecasts, signed off in August, had assumed the float would help pay for chip-supply commitments tied to its wider build-out, alongside new loans. Those commitments include $US8.3 billion in chip-supply obligations for its Batam, Indonesia project, with $US550 million in scheduled payments due this year, plus about $US311 million in payments for its Australian data centre projects. Firmus reported revenue of about $US50.8 million in the year to June, against contracts with major technology companies the ABC put at $US19.4 billion. Co-founder Oliver Curtis and former director Michael Rosenfield had separately extended loans to the company, at interest rates that have risen to 20 per cent.

The numbers

Firmus had hoped to list at a $44 billion valuation, a figure well above the $15 billion valuation set in its own funding round in August. The company’s forecasts, signed off that same month, had assumed the float would help cover its obligations, including chip-supply commitments for its Batam, Indonesia project. With the float withdrawn, those obligations now fall to whatever private funding Firmus can raise before the 30 November deadline tied to its investors’ extra-share entitlement.

What’s next

A Firmus spokesperson was approached for comment by the ABC. The 30 November deadline is the next fixed date: Firmus must complete a qualifying float or some investors get extra shares, and whether the 288MW Bell Bay factory’s funding gap closes now rests on the private raise Firmus says it will pursue instead of the listing.