Firmus aims for US$60B valuation

• Data centre developer Firmus is preparing for an Oct. 22 initial public offering that could value the business at up to US$60 billion.
• The founders will retain strict lock-up restrictions, permitting them to sell only 10% of their equity after one year on the public market.
• The company stated that its targeted valuation relies on generating US$5 billion in annual operational earnings across its planned data network.

Data centre developer Firmus is targeting an initial public offering on Oct. 22 that could value the business at up to US$60 billion.

The proposed listing contrastingly follows a modest current operational footprint that includes a small site in Singapore and a facility in Melbourne.

The company stated that the high initial valuation is based on applying a 12-times earnings multiple to an estimated US$5 billion in operational earnings once all facilities open.

Under the proposed investor terms, co-founders Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield, and Nick Curtis, who collectively hold a 13% stake, will be restricted to selling just 10% of their shares after 12 months, followed by an additional 29.9% after two years.

The company stated that achieving this equity milestone will rely on successfully building out its entire planned pipeline of infrastructure assets.

The business operates liquid-cooled data facilities designed specifically to handle high-density artificial intelligence computing workloads.

If completed at the projected scale, the listing would rank among the largest public market debuts in Australian history.