London-based jeweler Graff Diamonds Corp. said in a statement Thursday it has decided to postpone its $1 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong, citing adverse market conditions just one day before it was scheduled to price the deal, MarketWatch reported.
Graff's deal was widely viewed as a high-profile test of investors' appetite for new shares, and is the largest IPO to be withdrawn in Asia so far this year. The shelved deal comes amid a string of pulled deals in the region in recent days and Facebook Inc.'s post-IPO saga, which has undermined some investors' interest toward IPOs.
Weakness in global stock markets amid concerns about Europe's debt crisis and a more-than 10% decline in Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index so far this month have also hurt investors' appetite for new listings, and the postponement of Graff's IPO also comes as New York-based diamond ring specialist Tiffany & Co. (TIF) cut its outlook for the year, citing lower sales growth in the U.S.
"Consistently declining stock markets proved to be a significant barrier to executing the transaction at this time," Graff said in the statement.
The IPO of the ultra high-end jeweller founded by Laurence Graff in 1960 has been closely watched, as the company's June 7 listing was set to be the latest by a foreign firm in Hong Kong after Italian luxury house Prada SpA went public in the city last year.
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