Miller Homes, which had hoped to raise around £140 million, today pulled a planned share float which could have valued it at £450 million.
The regional housebuilder, which has no sites in London, blamed the weakness in the stock market.
It said: “In light of the recent financial markets volatility, the shareholders of Miller Group have elected not to proceed at this time with a public offering of Miller Homes.”
Analysts pointed out that the FTSE 250 and housebuilders indices had fallen by around 5% in the past week.
Miller is the first company to pull a stock market float since the spring when Fat Face and Wizz air cancelled their plans to list in London.
But last week RAC’s owners chose to sell it to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund rather than go ahead with a potential £2 billion float.
The Miller decision, taken last night, came ahead of a modest rally in shares today.
The FTSE 100 rose 46.83 points to 6493.22 points having dropped more than 200 points, or 3%, in the first four days of this week.
After the sharp sell-off investors returned cautiously with the offer of talks over democracy in Hong Kong helping to push shares higher.
The Hang Seng index increased by 0.6%.
Blackstone, through its GSO Capital Partners offshoot, is Miller’s largest shareholder with a 55% stake.
The two taxpayer-bailed-out banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, hold 23% and 9% stakes. Miller said: “The shareholders are excited to support Miller Homes in its next phase of growth as the company builds upon the momentum evidenced in its recent operational and financial results.”
It is understood Miller had not even started formal meetings with potential investors when it decided to halt the float.
By contrast, challenger bank Aldermore pressed ahead with its float plans today, announcing a price range of 217p to 265p a share.
At the mid-point of that range Aldermore would be valued at £800 million with a top value of £880 million.
Set up in 1999 Aldermore now has some 155,000 customers largely in the SME sector.
Final pricing is due on October 17 when dealing in the shares is expected to start.
