Luxfer postpones Wall Street IPO

MATERIALS group Luxfer postponed its planned multi-million pound IPO on Wall Street at the last minute, citing volatile market conditions.

The Salford-based company had been due to make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, but was forced to halt its plans due to the volatility on the market.

Chief executive Brian Purves said in a bried statement: “Although we
had interest from a number of high-­quality investors, we encountered volatile market conditions.

“We will consider recommencing the IPO when market conditions are more
stable.”

Luxfer, which had wanted to raise up to $185.4m in the IPO to cut debt and boost growth prospects, was one of 11 businesses due to float on Wall Street this week.

The day before its listing an Sanchez Energy priced its IPO below the expected price range, while real estate investment company Gazit-Globe cut the size of its offering, as market analysts said companies without the dotcom tag fail to attract enough investor interest.

Sources close to the company said the process was still alive, and was likely to be revisited in the New Year.

Luxfer, which has more than 1,500 employees at 16 manufacturing sites worldwide, makes a range of products from gas cyclinders for the healthcare market to high performance, light-weight metal sheets used to make cars and aircraft.

Chief among the high growth prospects is the healthcare market, where Luxfer believes it can double sales in the next five years due to an ageing population and increased prevalence of respiratory diseases.

Its portable medical gas cylinders will enable patients to remain in their homes, rather than stay in hospital.