Georgian Railway shelves its shares sale

Georgian Railway shelved its London shares sale yesterday blaming market conditions. The float was meant to raise up to $250m (£159m) and value the company at $1bn. It is a setback to the London Stock Exchange, which has seen little initial public offering activity over the past year.

Earlier this month the Russian real estate investor O1 Properties pulled its listing due to choppy markets. Georgia also blamed its decision on volatile markets and uncertainty over the future of Greece.

With markets wobbly, the company and its advisers had made every effort to improve the chances of a successful offering, including doubling the usual marketing period to gather as much feedback as possible from investors.

The country's Prime Minister, Nika Gilauri, even joined management teams on investor roadshows.