Malaysia's Sime Darby Bhd, the world's largest listed palm oil firm, has indefinitely postponed an initial public offering of its automotive business that bankers had said could raise up to $500 million. The company had in February deferred the IPO of Sime Darby Motors to the second half of this year but three people with direct knowledge of the matter said the deal had been put off for now.
A Sime Darby spokesman also said the IPO had been deferred "until the market is conducive for the exercise". He declined to give further details.
Sime Darby hired CIMB Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank, Maybank Investment Bank and Morgan Stanley to work on the IPO last year.
Malaysia was the hottest Asia-Pacific IPO destination in 2012 but IPO proceeds have fallen to a total $10.9 million so far this year, just 1 percent of what was raised in 2014, partly because foreign investors trimmed their Malaysia equity portfolios.
Sime Darby Motor operates in six countries including China and Australia, distributing mostly high-end brands such as Jaguar and Ferrari. It accounted for nearly 40 percent of Sime Darby's group revenue last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.
In the quarter ended December, Sime Darby Motors' profit before interest and tax fell 10 percent to 138.2 million ringgit ($38.29 million). The company said its local operations had been hit by tough competition in the mass market segment while in China, luxury car sales were lower.
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