Two IPOs test the AI hype, Aussie property keeps falling & a closer look at Firmus

Alec Renehan (0:00)

Today, we're recording live from Central Park.

Bryce Leske (0:02)

More bad news for Australian property, even though we're here in the US, we're going to talk about Australian property. House prices have fallen for the sixth consecutive month. Anthropic is aiming for the biggest IPO ever. They're after a valuation of two trillion. Now, to put that into perspective, SpaceX had a valuation of 1.77.

Alec Renehan (0:18)

And then in Australia, we've got Firmus, who are going to be Australia's second largest IPO ever.

Bryce Leske (0:24)

If you do it purely on the valuation at IPO though, Firmus is on track to be the largest in history. Welcome to another episode of Equity Mates, a podcast where we explore what's possible in the world of investing. If you have just joined us for the very first time, a massive welcome to our community. My name's Bryce.

Alec Renehan (0:44)

And I'm Ren, and today we're recording live from Central Park. But the show goes on, Bryce, today. We're talking about Australia's property fall. We're talking about two IPOs testing the AI trade. And then we're going to take a deep dive in one of them, which is Firmus. It's going to be Australia's second largest IPO ever, and maybe Australia's most controversial.

Bryce Leske (1:03)

Absolutely.

Alec Renehan (1:04)

All right.

Bryce Leske (1:05)

Well, people are probably wondering first, Ren, why we're sitting in Central Park.

Alec Renehan (1:08)

Yeah. Well, you set this show up every time to explore what's possible in the world of investing. And what's possible is that we're in the US, and we're interviewing one of the biggest investors in the world.

Bryce Leske (1:18)

If you've just joined us for the first time, we are very fortunate to be in the US to interview Bill Ackman from Pershing Square. Probably one of the most recognisable names in the investing world.

Alec Renehan (1:29)

Yes. And we're going to be showing that live at FinFest. So if you've got your tickets, congratulations, you're going to say it first. If you don't have tickets, don't despair.

We will be releasing it afterwards. But you can sign up for the FinFest waitlist to try and get a ticket if anyone pulls out. But yeah, it's pretty exciting.

Bryce Leske (1:46)

It is very exciting. Yes, it's a pinch me moment to be honest. You see Ackman, well, we've been investing now for what? Almost a decade. He's up there with the likes of Buffett, you know, big names and it's very exciting. But we've only been in New York for 48 hours or thereabouts.

Alec Renehan (2:03)

Yes.

Bryce Leske (2:04)

And AI is everywhere.

Alec Renehan (2:06)

Initial observations, AI is everywhere. And the AI backlash is also everywhere. The billboard wars between AI companies, we've seen AI law firms, AI agents as for them, AI speech to text and like different consumer applications of AI.

And then a bunch of anti AI ads as well. AI can't do this and humans beat AI at this. So the debate is alive. Yes.

Bryce Leske (2:32)

The one annoying thing that we were hoping to get over here was access to the bots. Not the bots, I guess the agents that have come out. So before we arrived, Meta had launched Muse and OpenAI launched their dots. Unfortunately, we are still geo located so we can't get access.

Alec Renehan (2:50)

Yeah, but we'll keep trying. So watch this space. We've got a couple more episodes that we're going to record while we're in America. So we will try and get on to Muse. So yeah, number one observation, AI is alive and well.

Bryce Leske (3:00)

Yeah.

Alec Renehan (3:01)

Maybe it's getting towards peak bubble territory when everything is AI related, but I don't know if you'll like it. Yeah.

Well, we'll talk about AI hype with some of these IPOs. We're going to talk about later. Second observation, everything is expensive.

Bryce Leske (3:15)

Unbelievably expensive. I mean, we are in New York, so it's to be expected.

It's obviously up there with the most expensive cities in the world. But food, we were speaking to a couple of people who live here at the moment. Rent is through the roof. We met an Australian on the flight who was budgeting $2,000 a week. Yeah, for rent.

Alec Renehan (3:36)

And I mean, that's New York, so that's fine. But it's not just rent. It's like everything. It's food. It's even like cheaper food. It's expensive.

Bryce Leske (3:44)

Yeah.

Alec Renehan (3:44)

Yeah. Third observation, tipping culture is cooked still. Yes.

Bryce Leske (3:48)

Yes. Yes.

Alec Renehan (3:49)

And they should include the sales tax in the price.