Soda ash producer WE Soda has cancelled its up to £1bn London IPO after only a week of pre-marketing, dealing a blow to confidence in more deals being done before the summer break.
CEO Alasdair Warren said the company had been encouraged by the breadth of global interest but investors, particularly in the UK, remain highly cautious.
"This extreme investor caution in London meant that we were unable to arrive at a valuation that we believe reflects our unique financial and operating characteristics," he said.
The IPO would have seen an all-secondary offer from owner Turgay Ciner, though the company would have received around US$800m from the repayment of intercompany loans.
“It’s not due to demand as we had visibility. It was down to valuation," said one banker involved. "The market did not see the same valuation as the seller.”
BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan were joint global coordinators, and joint bookrunners with Deutsche Bank, Liberum, Morgan Stanley, MUFG Securities and Numis.