Datacentre company Firmus’s high flying valuation may be coming back down to earth ahead of expected ASX debut

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Sources say Firmus is slashing its price and may even shelve initial public offering altogether

The momentum behind Firmus Technologies’ high-flying valuation is showing severe cracks just weeks out from its anticipated ASX debut.

Multiple sources briefed on the matter told Guardian Australia the AI datacentre company is slashing its valuation to entice sceptical investors – or may even shelve its initial public offering altogether.

On Thursday, Firmus abruptly withdrew from its scheduled appearance at a parliamentary inquiry into artificial intelligence amid harried discussions to save what was billed as the largest IPO in Australia in decades.

Most of the alarm bells about Firmus have been centred on its near-$44bn valuation for a company still in its start-up phase.

Its backers were confident of obtaining this valuation just days ago, but are now frantically re-pricing to find a level that investors will be comfortable paying ahead of an anticipated ASX listing late this month.

“The whole thing was getting fanciful,” said one investment manager briefed on the float.

“It’s a business that’s losing hundreds of millions of dollars, and yet its valuation kept going up nonstop every couple of months.”