Firmus Grid Ltd is seeking a A$43.7 billion ($30.3 billion) valuation in an Australian initial public offering this month, Bloomberg reported on 1 October, ahead of an institutional bookbuild expected to begin on 6 October.
Key points
- Bankers have told investors that indicative bids cover a planned $5 billion raising at A$11 per share.
- The offering may be increased by another $500 million.
- The institutional bookbuild is expected to run from 6 to 7 October.
A$11 pricing and indicative demand
The company’s bankers told potential investors that they had received enough indicative bids to fill the $5 billion raising at A$11 a share, Bloomberg reported. The bids are an early indication of demand ahead of the bookbuild, when institutions are expected to bid for shares under the offer timetable.
The offering could be increased by an additional $500 million. GuruFocus described that amount as a possible greenshoe option, which would allow the deal to grow if investor demand supports it. Its account of the premarketing, published on 24 September, preceded the A$43.7 billion valuation figure reported on 1 October.
An earlier account put Firmus’s reported private financing valuation at approximately US$10.5 billion and said IPO pitches had reached up to approximately A$50 billion, Tech Insider reported on 23 September. Those figures concerned different stages of fundraising. The A$11-a-share pricing is the figure bankers have now sent to prospective investors for the planned public offering.
Firmus expects a $77 million half-year loss ahead of the IPO, AI Affairs previously reported. The indicated share price therefore puts a valuation on a business still spending to develop its data-centre operations, rather than one whose current earnings cover that investment.
Firmus’s power contracts and Nvidia backing
Firmus develops infrastructure for GPU-heavy computing. It secures electricity and data-centre space, installs Nvidia processors and networking equipment, and sells computing capacity to AI developers and large cloud customers under long-term contracts. AI Affairs has previously reported that Meta contracted Firmus GPU capacity at Southeast Asian data centres.
Tech Insider reported that Firmus was targeting roughly 900 megawatts of contracted power and data-centre capacity. Firmus has stated goals of building around five AI facilities within two years and reaching approximately two million GPUs by 2028. Those capacity and equipment figures are targets, rather than a measure of processors already installed and operating.
Power agreements alone do not generate computing revenue. Data centres also need electrical connections, cooling, fibre links and delivered GPUs before contracted capacity can be used. That sequence puts construction and equipment delivery between the company’s planned capacity and the income it seeks to earn from customers.
The company reportedly raised roughly US$2.5 billion during 2026, including a round of about US$2 billion involving Nvidia, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, Coatue Management and Jane Street. Nvidia is also a supplier of the GPUs used in Firmus’s data centres. The reported fundraising gives the operator private backing as it approaches a public offer tied to its expansion plans.
6 October bookbuild precedes ASX trading
Firmus was founded in 2019 by Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee, according to GuruFocus. The company began speaking to investors about the planned ASX listing on 24 September. Its institutional bookbuild is expected to run from 6 to 7 October, followed by a prospectus due on 8 October.
Firmus is expected to offer retail investors a bidding period from 12 to 19 October, GuruFocus reported. The institutional process comes first, after bankers have circulated the indicated A$11-a-share price and told investors about the bids received for the planned $5 billion raising.
Firmus is pencilled in to begin trading on the ASX on 22 October, Tech Insider reported.
