Edwards pulls £1bn market float

A technology company involved in the production of Apple's iPad has backed out of a potential £1 billion flotation amid worries over market conditions.

Edwards Group, which develops vacuum technology used in the manufacture of products such as flat-screen televisions, was set to float around 35% of the firm at the bottom of a 200p to 270p-a-share range.

But the company, which is based in Crawley, West Sussex, said its selling shareholders - private equity firms CCMP Capital and Unitas International - have been put off by uncertainty surrounding equity markets.

Edwards, which employs more than 3,000 staff, was taken private more than 40 years ago. It was founded in 1919.

The company was bought 43 years ago by British Oxygen Company, later known as BOC Group, before it was sold to CCMP and Unitas.

CCMP and Unitas were set to raise around £356 million, if the initial price offering (IPO) had gone through at 200p a share, valuing the firm at around £1 billion. The firm had been valued at £1.5 billion last year.

In a short announcement confirming plans to abandon the IPO at the current time, CCMP and Unitas, who bought the company for £460 million in 2007, said: "We are delighted with the continued excellent performance of the company and management team."

However, Edwards added it had received "strong" interest from institutional investors. Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Cazenove, Morgan Stanley and UBS were leading the listing.

Former Diageo chief financial officer Nick Rose was set to take up the role of chairman had the deal completed.

The group reported underlying earnings of £130 million for 2010, from revenues of £641 million.