Just four weeks after announcing plans to return to the stock market, Hogg Robinson Group yesterday said it would delay its planned £380 million ($717 million) initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.
The company emphasized to U.K. financial newspapers that the IPO was delayed, not cancelled, and indicated it was waiting for more favorable market conditions.
U.K. newspaper
The Independent reported that the offering was abandoned "after investors took fright at possible cuts to business travel budgets and signs of a U.S. economic slowdown." The Times Online also blamed a weakening U.S. economy for the delay.
HRG's only official comment was that "the IPO of Hogg Robinson, which was scheduled to commence trading on the London Stock Exchange in the near future, has been delayed due to the present market conditions."
It has been six years since the group, majority owned by private equity firm Permira Advisers Ltd., raised funds on the stock market. HRG planned to use the proceeds to refinance debt, expand its business and make a one-off payment into its pension scheme.
Analysts have predicted that the flotation would value HRG at $1.14 billion, roughly double its worth at the time the company quit the market. HRG announced its intention to file the IPO earlier this month
(BTNonline, Sept. 5).