Latest / The Front / Firmus ASX float in doubt as investor interest wanes

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Firmus ASX float in doubt as investor interest wanes · The Front

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  Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Kristen Amitt with
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  Speaker 1: the front's afternoon headlines. It was touted as one of
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  Speaker 1: the biggest stock market floats in Australian history, but now
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  Speaker 1: the initial public offering of data centre builder Firmus is
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  Speaker 1: hanging by a thread. Firmus Technologies is owned by billionaire
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  Speaker 1: Oliver Curtis and was tracking at $ 11 per share when
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  Speaker 1: it makes its debut on the Australian Stock Exchange on
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  Speaker 1: October 23. But investor interest has waned, leaving Curtis and
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  Speaker 1: his co-founder Tim Rosenfield to frantically reprice shares at a
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  Speaker 1: markdown of at least 20%. That would net them about
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  Speaker 1: $ 1. 3 billion less than the $ 7. 2 billion they were originally
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  Speaker 1: seeking from new shareholders. And The Australian's Data Room reports
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  Speaker 1: it's possible the IPO could be canned altogether. Firmus was
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  Speaker 1: expected to appear before the government's parliamentary inquiry at 10.30am
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  Speaker 1: on Thursday, but pulled out at the 11th hour. It
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  Speaker 1: seems Sydney is tuning out of talkback. The latest radio
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  Speaker 1: ratings indicate listeners are opting for easy listening on stations
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  Speaker 1: like Smooth FM. 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham narrowly maintained
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  Speaker 1: the top spot, but lost a full percentage point in
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  Speaker 1: the last survey. He's closely followed by Smooth's Bogart Torelli,
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  Speaker 1: who gained half a point. Kyle and Jackie O's former station,
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  Speaker 1: Kiss FM, remained steady in fifth place, with just under 7%
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  Speaker 1: of the audience. 170 rolls at Treasury Wine Estates, which
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  Speaker 1: makes Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Lindemans and Pepper Jack wines, have
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  Speaker 1: been made redundant as part of a company-wide restructure. While
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  Speaker 1: a couple of vineyard jobs have been affected, most of
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  Speaker 1: the axed roles are in marketing, IT, finance and support roles.
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  Speaker 1: It follows a statutory loss of over a billion dollars,
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  Speaker 1: as reported in August. Check out those stories live right
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  Speaker 1: now at theaustralian.com.au and come back to the front first
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  Speaker 1: thing in the morning for our look at how and
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  Speaker 1: where former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews is spending his retirement.
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  Speaker 1: That's right here, Friday morning.