Australian data centre operator Firmus expects a $77 million after-tax loss in the first half of the financial year ending June 30, 2027, on a pro forma basis, as it prepares for a potential $5 billion initial public offering. The forecast comes from a draft prospectus circulated to prospective investors, according to two people familiar with the document. Firmus declined to comment. Backed by investors including Blackstone and counting Nvidia, Meta and OpenAI as customers, Firmus is scheduled to begin trading on the Australian Securities Exchange on October 22. The offering would be Australia’s second-largest IPO, behind Telstra’s $10 billion listing in 1997, according to Dealogic data, while local media reports have placed Firmus’s possible post-IPO valuation at up to $60 billion. The sale will test investor appetite for data centre infrastructure supporting the computing needs of artificial intelligence. Founded in 2019, Firmus has historically been loss-making, with prior losses attributed to the cost of developing and expanding the business to secure substantial customer agreements. IPO proceeds are expected to fund additional capital spending. Firmus estimates that its completed data centres could generate combined annual earnings of $5 billion within five years. It currently operates two centres in Australia and Singapore and has five more under development across the Asia-Pacific region, mostly in early stages. The institutional bookbuild is scheduled to begin on October 6, with the prospectus due to be made public on October 8.