The Australian has featured commentary from Minotaur Capital co-founder Armina Rosenberg on Firmus Technologies abandoning its ASX float, at one time planned as a $44bn listing, in favour of a Nasdaq listing late next year. The AI factory owner now faces a fresh capital raising of up to US$3bn after lukewarm institutional and retail interest. A key US investor pulled out of the book build at $8.65 per share, already cut from the targeted $11.
Having steered clear of Firmus, we think the board made the correct decision given the risk of material losses for new investors. Armina said:
"Pulling the float was a sensible call. It's better than listing at a price that leaves new shareholders nursing a loss from day one."
"The decision is a verdict on the price, not the business: the contracts with OpenAI and Meta are still real."
In our view, the bigger question now is funding. As Armina explained, the capital raised was meant to pay for servers going into Batam, Kuala Lumpur and Tasmania, sites with contracted delivery dates. Private capital can fill that gap, "but the price of the next round will show where the value really sits."
The episode is a useful reminder that a strong business and a sound investment are not always the same thing, particularly in fast-moving AI and data centre markets.
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