Formula One fifth large Asia IPO to be scrapped

LONDON / SINGAPORE - Reuters

REUTERS photo

Motor sport racing company Formula One has delayed its Singapore initial public offer worth up to $3 billion, the fifth big Asian IPO to be postponed or pulled in a week, as weak markets bring the global market for new listings to a shuddering halt.

Worldwide, money raised from stock market flotations has slumped 46 percent so far this year compared with the same period of 2011, with investors wary of the euro zone crisis,
China’s economic slowdown and last month’s botched Facebook IPO.

Formula One, which planned to list in Singapore, has become the latest issuer to hit the brakes, dropping plans to lodge its IPO prospectus with Singapore regulators early next week, sources familiar with the company’s decision said on June 1.

But Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s boss and a part-owner of the company, said in an interview with Reuters that Formula One was biding its time, not scrapping the IPO altogether, and that its bankers would continue to meet prospective investors.

Graff Diamonds also ditches IPO

 “We are getting prepared so all these things are done and then whenever we want to go, we can go,” the 81-year-old billionaire said.

 On May 31, London luxury jeweller Graff Diamonds ditched its $1 billion IPO in Hong Kong, Asia’s IPO capital, which along with the United States has seen a slump in initial offers. Deal volumes in Hong Kong have dived 85 percent so far in 2012. In the United States, 12 IPOs were pulled or delayed in May.