SYDNEY: Southeast Asia online realty company PropertyGuru is cancelling its initial public offering (IPO) in Australia because of market uncertainty, Chairman Olivier Lim said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, PropertyGuru - owned by Private equity firms KKR and TPG Capital - and its brokers offered shares at the lower end of a A$3.70 to A$4.50 indicated range, expecting to raise up to A$380.2 million.
On Wednesday, fund managers were told the IPO would not proceed, the sources said, making it the second cancelled listing of the day and the fourth this month.
“Despite strong engagement throughout the process with prospective investors, the Board and existing shareholders have determined not to proceed with the offer,” Oliver said in an emailed statement. “This decision took into account current IPO market sentiment.”
On Wednesday, private equity firm Bain Capital said it would not launch a management roadshow for the planned listing of its retail chain company Retail Zoo, which owns the Boost Juice drink franchise.]
“Investors are very skittish on IPOs at the moment and that’s affecting our ability to get sufficient demand at prices at which the companies are actually willing to deal,” said one of the people involved in the cancellations, who declined to be identified because the person was not allowed to speak to the media.
The halted listings on Wednesday come on the back of the cancellation last week of what was hoped to be the country’s biggest listing of the year, private equity giant KKR & Co and partners’ float of lender Latitude Financial.
Consumer lender Latitude’s planned A$1 billion IPO - its second attempt at a listing in just over a year - was pulled after the offer failed to attract sufficient strategic investors. - Reuters
