{"id":588962,"date":"2026-11-02T13:10:50","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T02:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=588962"},"modified":"2026-11-02T13:38:03","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T02:38:03","slug":"the-three-key-issues-on-asics-radar-as-it-unpicks-firmus-ipo-flop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=588962","title":{"rendered":"The three key issues on ASIC\u2019s radar as it unpicks Firmus\u2019 IPO flop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Did the investment banks and stockbrokers working on Firmus<\/a>\u2019 initial public offering have a reasonable basis for the representations they made about investor demand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s essentially what the corporate regulator\u2019s inquiries<\/a> into the abandoned ASX listing of neocloud Firmus will centre on, as it assesses whether there was any wrongdoing or deceptive behaviour, and whether to launch a formal investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Firmus\u2019 co-founders Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield scrapped plans for the company to debut on the ASX in October. David Rowe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It should be clear-cut and the joint lead managers on the deal will have records to show where indications of interest were sitting at various points ahead of, and during, the bookbuild. That\u2019s the process that was set up to deliver the company a market capitalisation of almost $44 billion if all went to plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But muddying the waters for ASIC<\/a> and those involved is that\u00a0there are varying reports<\/a>\u00a0about just how much indicative demand there was for Firmus\u2019 shares, pitched to investors last month at $11 apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s one key issue the Australian Securities and Investments Commission will need to decipher. The other is that ASIC chair Sarah Court and her team will need to assess whether the float\u2019s lead managers adequately updated investors on material changes to demand during the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Muddying the waters are conflicts and varying reports about how much indicative demand there was, while few investor updates were sent when demand fell away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90574,"featured_media":571975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18607,12785],"tags":[19589,21027,21295],"class_list":["post-588962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-news","category-data-centre","tag-asic","tag-firmus","tag-ipo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t