The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is looking into the failed initial public offering of Firmus, an AI data centre operator.

The float would have been the second-largest IPO in Australian history. It collapsed on 9 October after failing to attract enough investor backing.

Why it failed

Investors raised concerns about:

  • valuations of AI companies
  • heavy spending
  • how long it would take to earn a return.

ASIC’s role

ASIC has not opened an official investigation. It is talking to the joint lead managers (Bank of America, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Morgans) and will look at how brokers communicated with investors during the bookbuild.

Liberal Senator Dave Sharma questioned ASIC about the IPO in a letter to the regulator, which is chaired by Sarah Court.