Maas shares fall 22.4% as reported Firmus IPO cuts unsettle investors

Maas Group shares closed down 22.4% in Australia on October 8 as concerns that AI data-centre operator Firmus could reduce its planned US$5 billion initial public offering unsettled investors, Reuters reported. The construction services provider owns 3.2% of Nvidia-backed Firmus and also supplies electrical infrastructure for its projects.

The shares fell as much as 30% during trading, reaching their weakest level since May 6. Reuters reported that approximately A$517 million was wiped from Maas’s market value, leaving it valued at A$1.79 billion. That decline measures the stock market’s valuation of Maas; it is not a reported realised loss on its Firmus investment.

Firmus offer price remains unsettled

Local media reports cited by Reuters said Firmus and its advisers were considering reducing the size of the offering and cutting the price from A$11 to A$8.25 per share. Neither a revised price nor a smaller fundraising total was confirmed in the report.

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that final details of the share sale were still being settled on Thursday. Firmus did not respond to the news agency’s request for comment. The reporting did not establish that the flotation had been cancelled or completed.

The initial term sheet had said indicative offers exceeded the size of the deal. Even so, some potential investors interviewed by Reuters expressed caution about Firmus’s valuation, its ability to execute ambitious growth plans and its debt burden. Reuters separately attributed reports of weaker-than-expected overseas demand to local media.

At its proposed US$5 billion size, the float was expected to be Australia’s largest new share sale in nearly three decades, behind Telstra’s roughly US$10 billion offering in 1997, according to Reuters. That comparison describes the planned transaction before any confirmed revision.

What Maas said about the share-price fall

The Australian Securities Exchange questioned Maas about the decline. According to Reuters’ account of its exchange filing, Maas said speculation about whether the Firmus IPO would proceed had weighed on sentiment. It said it was unaware of undisclosed information that would explain the trading.

Emanuel Ajay Datt, managing director of fund manager Datt Group, told Reuters: “The selloff reflects a legitimate derating of the embedded value of its Firmus stake, but the magnitude is overdone.” His assessment concerns the scale of the market reaction, rather than a confirmed change in the investment’s value.

Datt estimated that an offer-price reduction from A$11 to A$9 would lower the value of Maas’s holding by about A$75 million, substantially less than its market-value decline that day. His illustration used A$9, distinct from the A$8.25 price under consideration in the local media reports cited by Reuters.

Maas’s Firmus relationship extends beyond shares

Firmus’s February announcement of a strategic equity investment from Maas set out a broader industrial partnership. The company said the investment supported an Australian AI infrastructure supply chain spanning manufacturing, construction and electrical systems.

The announcement identified Maas subsidiary JLE as an electrical and electrification partner and Benmax as a mechanical-systems partner. Firmus said the manufacturing capacity established with its partners was designed to support up to 1.5GW of AI facility delivery annually and create up to 400 skilled manufacturing jobs. Those were company ambitions, not verified October outcomes.

Maas’s May 18 corporate update described an A$200 million Firmus contract covering 100MW at the Launceston AI Factory. It said JLE was delivering the work under an exclusive electrical delivery partnership for Firmus’s proposed 3.3GW Australian portfolio.

At that time, Maas said the Launceston contract was approximately 35% complete by value and expected delivery and commissioning during calendar 2026. It said revenue would be recognised progressively during manufacturing and delivery. The update does not establish the project’s completion status on October 8.

Maas also described approximately A$200 million per 100MW as an indication of potential future electrical-division revenue opportunities. That figure was not booked revenue across the proposed portfolio. JLE’s stated capabilities included grid connections, high-voltage substations, transformers, switchgear, testing, commissioning and backup generation.

Final IPO terms are the outstanding question

Reuters’ October 8 report leaves the final offer price, proceeds and transaction outcome unresolved. The historical company disclosures explain Maas’s commercial exposure, but do not establish that IPO uncertainty has cancelled contracts, reduced payments or caused layoffs. The promised further information from the bookrunners remains the next clarification identified in the reported term sheet.