HONG KONG—London-based jeweler Graff Diamonds Corp. said Thursday in a press release it has decided to postpone its $1 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong owing to adverse market conditions that hurt demand.
Graff's is the largest IPO to be withdrawn in Asia so far this year, amid a string of pulled share sales in recent days. Car dealer China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings shelved its up to $433 million Hong Kong IPO earlier this week, while mining firm China Nonferrous Mining Corp. postponed its $313 million deal. In Singapore, M&L Hospitality Trusts called off its IPO last month. Hurting investor appetite for new listings has been the weak performance of markets amid concerns about Europe's debt crisis. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index is down more than 10% this month.
The postponement of Graff's IPO also comes as diamond ring specialist Tiffany & Co. cut its outlook for the year, citing lower sales growth in the U.S.
"The company enjoyed high quality engagement on its business and strategy from a very broad range of prospective investors. However, consistently declining stock markets proved to be a significant barrier to executing the transaction at this time," said in the Graff's press release.
Graff had been selling its shares at HK$25 to HK$37 each, translating 18-24 times 2012 forecast earnings and valuing the company at up to US$4 billion.
The company had scheduled to price the deal Friday and to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange June 7.
Rothschild is the financial advisor on the Graff IPO, while Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Holdings PLC and Morgan Stanley are bookrunners.
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