Volvo Cars Drops IPO

Volvo Cars and its Chinese owner Geely have postponed plans to float shares in the Swedish carmaker, blaming trade tensions and a downturn in automotive stocks. But while Volvo’s plans for a Stockholm listing were delayed indefinitely, Britain’s Aston Martin vowed to push ahead with its own initial public offering. “We’ve come to the conclusion that the timing is not optimal for an IPO right now,” Volvo Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson told Reuters by telephone on Monday, confirming a decision which was first reported by the Financial Times. Volvo and its Chinese parent had been discussing an IPO to value the carmaker at between $16 billion and $30 billion, sources have previously said. The company said a listing was still possible in the future. But Samuelsson said IPO prospects had dimmed with the business cycle, amid a broad-based decline in automotive shares that has dragged the Stoxx 600 Autos & Parts index .SXAP 15% lower so far this year. Even before the recent sell-off, however, some observers doubted the $30 billion upper end of Volvo’s target valuation.