Amid jittery investor sentiment for shipping BW Pacific has decided to ditch a planned $250m IPO on the Oslo Bors.
“The [c]ompany has resolved not to proceed with the offering and listing under the current market conditions,” BW Pacific said in a release today. BW Pacific is the product tanker arm of BW Group. Bookbuilding for the IPO had been ongoing for a couple of weeks prior to today’s announcement. The company had been struggling to get near its target pricing range.
Shipping IPOs have falled flat of late with the industry in the doldrums. German containerline Hapag-Lloyd’s recent Frankfurt IPO was a disappointment, while many listed shipping companies across the world have received warnings recently over their liquidity. Nevertheless, others are looking at listings, notably Oaktree controlled Torm. The Danish product tanker player said this week it was looking at the New York Stock Exchange next year.
