Deutsche Annington puts off IPO due adverse market conditions

Polski Holding Nieruchomosci SA

02/07/2013 22:14

FRANKFURT, July 2 (Reuters) - German real estate company Deutsche Annington  ANNGn.TG  said on Tuesday it has decided to postpone its initial public offering due to "persistent adverse market conditions". Two financial sources told Reuters on Tuesday the company has cancelled its July 3 listing due to insufficent demand. (Reporting By Alexander Huebner, Kylie Maclellan and Marilyn Gerlach) ((marilyn.gerlach@thomsonreuters.com)(+49 69 7565 1279)(Reuters Messaging: marilyn.gerlach.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: DEUTSCHEANNINGTON IPO/     * Shares priced 18-21 euros valued company at 4 billion euros FRANKFURT, July 2 (Reuters) - Deutsche Annington  ANNGn.TG , Germany's largest residential real estate company, canceled its July 3 market debut after failing to attract enough demand for its new shares. A company statement late on Tuesday said it has decided to postpone the planned initial public offering (IPO) due to "persistent adverse market conditions." Three financial sources told Reuters ahead of the announcement that the company opted not to push through with the IPO because there were not enough orders for the shares, which had been priced at between 18 euros ($23.46)and 21 euros. That range would put the value of the company at about 4 billion euros.   Earlier, two sources familiar with the matter said Deutsche Annington might cut the number of shares in the offer to help support the process. "This decision does not impact Deutsche Annington's strategy," the company quoted Chief Executive Rolf Buch as saying. "Based on our strong financial position, we will focus on driving our operational performance including continuing our investment and modernisation programme as planned," he said.  Deutsche Annington said it would continue to evaluate the market environment regarding a potential listing in the future, but there was no hint when that might be. The majority owner of Deutsche Annington, private equity company Terra Firma  TERA.UL , had planned to sell 27.4 million existing shares with the option to sell an additional 7.4 million shares, the so-called "greenshoe", while Deutsche Annington was offering 22.2 million new shares to raise money to cut debt. The European property sector has seen a string of flotations this year, including British estate agency Countrywide Holdings CWD.L , British housebuilder Crest Nicholson  CRST.L  and Poland's state-controlled real estate group PHN  PHN.WA . LEG Immobilien  LEGn.DE  was the first German property company to list its shares this year, raising 1.3 billion euros in January. ($1 = 0.7672 euros) (Reporting by Alexander Huebner and Marilyn Gerlach; Additional reporting by Kylie Maclellan in London; Editing by Carol Bishopric) ((marilyn.gerlach@thomsonreuters.com)(+49 69 7565 1279)(Reuters Messaging: marilyn.gerlach.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: DEUTSCHEANNINGTON IPO