Weak investor demand in London has led to the last-minute shelving of a £3bn initial public offer for UK life insurer ReAssure Group PLC by parent Swiss Re.
The life insurance consolidator had priced the IPO in late June and was due to float this month.
READ: ReAssure aims for £3.3bn IPO valuation as it spins off from Swiss Re
Swiss Re said on Thursday that there had been “heightened caution and weak underlying demand” from institutional investors.
Global share listings in the first six months have slumped to their lowest since 2016, with some European markets seeing a sharp slowdown.
Swiss Re said it still intended to spin off ReAssure but did not plan to restart the IPO process this year.
“While we firmly believe that the long-term interests of ReAssure are best served by a more diversified shareholder base, there has been no pressing need for Swiss Re to divest shares at a price that we consider to be unrepresentative of ReAssure’s value and future prospects,” finance director John Dacey said.
As part of the IPO, which had been priced at 280p-330p per share, Swiss Re was due to cut its stake from 75% to 50%, with Japanese insurance group MS&AD Insurance retaining its 25% stake.
Credit Suisse had been leading the sale of shares to institutions in the City and Wall Street, with Morgan Stanley and UBS joint co-ordinators and bookrunners.