The decision to cancel the Deutsche Bank-led deal was taken one day before scheduled pricing on Thursday in the face of thin demand.
Bankers comment that although the company had been well received during roadshows, it faced an uphill battle convincing investors to participate in a sector which has fallen out of favour and in a market where virtually no IPO is trading above issue price.
The company had been hoping to raise between S$94.33 million and S$144.1 million ($54.21 million to $82.83 million) from a 150.6 million share issue that would represent 22% of the company's share capital. Pricing had been marketed on an indicative range of S$0.62 to S$0.957.
"It's an interesting company, but it's suffered because of the performance of its peers and it's just not large enough to attract fund managers' interest in current market conditions," one banker notes.
The company had hoped that a listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange would form a precursor to a Nasdaq listing over the next one to two years. In late September, Creative Technology, the world's leading soundcard manufacturer also acquired a 7.5% stake in the company.
Frontline itself hoped to use proceeds from the IPO, along with roughly $30 million in cash holdings, to embark on an aggressive regional expansion through ASEAN and over the longer-term, the greater Asia Pacific region.
