ASIC to examine role of bankers in failed $44 billion Firmus float

The conduct of bankers behind the failed $44 billion Firmus float will be scrutinised by the corporate watchdog.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chair Sarah Court confirmed to Senate estimates on Thursday the regulator will seek information about whether the demand for shares in the local AI firm was misrepresented.

Global investment banks Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Morgans Financial headed the work in raising billions of dollars for Firmus, putting the firm's value close to $44 billion.

NSW Liberal senator David Sharma had earlier written to Court over issues regarding the proposed $43.7 billion float of the data centre company.

On Thursday, he asked the ASIC chair about a letter from Morgans to investors highlighting “huge demand” for the float and urging them to “get a rattle on” if they wanted to be part of the capital raising.

“We would certainly be looking at that as part of these enquiries,” said Court.

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“Sometimes things can be pulled out of broader correspondence, but we have got a report that makes clear that lead managers must have a reasonable basis for investor demand. That is one of the things that our inquiries will be examining,” she said.

“I think it is fair to say that we are having a look at the broad range of issues that have been reported in the media, including the engaging of the JLMs (Joint Lead Managers).”

“I almost cannot give much more than sitting here today, suffice to say that this is a very significant event, and we understand that, and we need to look at it very carefully.”

Firmus was founded in 2019 by Oliver Curtis – a previously convicted insider trader who is the husband of Sydney publicist Roxy Jacenko – his cousin Tim Rosenfield, and former brother-in-law Jonathan Levee.

In early October, the company sensationally scrapped its plans for a blockbuster float on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).