Metals investor Cobalt Holdings said on Wednesday it would not proceed with its planned initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, ending hopes for what could have been the largest listing in the UK capital since early 2024. The company declined to specify the reasons for dropping its plans days after the listing was priced at $2.56 per share. 

However, one person with knowledge of the process said the process was halted as a result of lack of investor demand. Management continues to believe in the business model and the market for cobalt, a second person with knowledge of the situation said, adding that the company is planning to explore options including funding the business privately.

The market debut, valued at around $230 million, would have been London's largest since Air Astana's listing in February 2024.

London has struggled to attract new listings, prompting reforms last year to make it more competitive with New York and the European Union after Brexit.

Several London-listed firms in recent years have also moved their primary listing to New York or picked Europe for IPOs, where they believe they can fetch better valuations. Last month, Reuters reported that fast-fashion retailer Shein was working toward a listing in Hong Kong after its proposed London IPO stalled.

Unilever chose Amsterdam as the primary listing for its ice cream business Ben & Jerry's in February.

Glencore and affiliates of investment firm Anchorage Structured Commodities Advisor had agreed to buy about 20.5% of the shares to be offered in Cobalt's IPO when it was first announced in early May.

Cobalt, which holds physical cobalt and has a contract to buy from Glencore, had plans to use the majority of the IPO proceeds to buy an initial 6,000 metric tons of the key battery metal, worth around $200 million, from the global miner.

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru and Charlie Conchie and Clara Denina in London; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi, Marguerita Choy and Matthew Lewis)