Billionaire James Packer has criticised Australia’s lack of appetite for high-risk investments following the collapse of Firmus’s A$44bn ($30.5bn) IPO, which would have been the largest on the ASX in nearly 30 years. The ‘neocloud’ provider, backed by Nvidia and Blackstone, abandoned its float after investors balked at a valuation requiring significant future funding. Packer said Australian investors’ risk threshold is much lower than in the US, where major tech firms are listed, claiming Australia ‘tends to tear down’ aggressive entrepreneurs while America builds them up.
Packer, who inherited his father Kerry Packer’s business empire before focusing on Crown Resorts, has backed both Firmus and Only Fans. He sold half his Crown stake in 2019, with Blackstone taking full control three years later. Firmus co-founder Oliver Curtis, who served jail time for insider trading earlier in his career, called the failed listing a ‘missed opportunity’ for local investors to back a homegrown tech champion.
Banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Morgans Financial advised on the IPO. Firmus said it will explore other private and public avenues to raise funds for its Asia expansion. Meanwhile, Blackstone-owned Air Trunk delayed its Singapore REIT listing pending better market conditions.
Matt Bright of the University of Sydney Business School noted the fallout may fuel accusations of ‘sour grapes’ and ‘tall poppy syndrome’, but argued the scrutiny validates market discipline, adding that pulling the IPO could prevent other Australian tech firms from being tarred by the same brush if Firmus had failed to deliver.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing