(Reuters) -WE Soda, a producer of natural soda ash, has abandoned plans to go public in London after investor feedback fell short of its valuation expectations.
WE Soda’s parent Ciner Group had planned to raise at least $800 million in an initial public offering, with press reports citing a potential valuation of more than $7 billion.
The sale was poised to be London’s largest this year after a quiet period for IPOs due to soaring interest rates and economic uncertainty.
“Investors, particularly in the UK, remain extremely cautious about the IPO market and this extreme investor caution in London meant that we were unable to arrive at a valuation that we believe reflects our unique financial and operating characteristics,” CEO Alasdair Warren said on Wednesday.
The listing was expected to boost London as it faces questions around its attractiveness for IPOs, following a series of high-profile defections by locally listed or British companies to New York, including Cambridge-based chipmaker Arm.
“This is fresh blow for London just as confidence in the city as an IPO launch pad appeared to be edging back upwards,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown.
While WE Soda is based in Britain, the bulk of its operations are in Turkey. Last year, it generated 4.6 million metric tonnes of soda ash, a component used in glass manufacturing and in the production of batteries for electric vehicles.
WE Soda’s chief strategy officer, former investment banker Nicholas Hall, said in late May that the company and its parent had chosen London because its investors had a deep understanding of the chemicals industry and because it acted as a gateway to the United States, its targeted growth market.
(Reporting by Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro in London and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Matt Scuffham and Richard Chang)
