Oman's Renaissance Services has pulled the planned USD 500 million initial public offering of its oilfield services unit Topaz on valuation concerns and growing regional unrest.

A source familiar with the matter said that the order books for Topaz Energy and Marine which was set for a London listing was not fully covered by institutional investors. The company may come back with the offering later but has not given a timeframe. They want to look at other options but have not specified what exactly they plan to do.

Topaz one of the biggest oil services companies in the Middle East launched the process for its USD 500 million London listed IPO earlier in March with a price range of 170 pence to 230 pence. The IPO had an implied market value of between USD 1.5 billion and USD 1.9 billion for the Dubai based company.

Mr Fazel Fazelbhoy CEO of Topaz said that the offering would have given the oilfield services company a market capitalization of USD 1.7 billion making it eligible for inclusion in the FTSE 250.

(Sourced from Reuters)