Car dealer BCA Marketplace in flotation U-turn

BCA Marketplace, Britain’s biggest seller of used cars, has become the latest company to call off a flotation because of stock market turbulence.

BCA matches wholesale buyers with sellers of used cars and also runs the retail webuyanycar.com website. It announced on 6 October that it planned to raise at least £200m in a November stock market listing that would have valued the business at about £1.2bn including debt.

But the company, owned by the private equity firm Clayton Dubilier and Rice, has scrapped the planned float after more than a week of turbulence in financial markets. The turmoil has forced the banks Virgin Money and Aldermore and the housebuilder Miller Homes to cancel flotations. Jimmy Choo, the luxury shoemaker, pressed on with its flotation last week but was forced to cut its valuation by about £150m to win over investors.

BCA said: “Given the volatility in global equity markets, the board and shareholders of BCA Marketplace have chosen not to proceed with its initial public offering at this time. The board and shareholders were very encouraged by the broad engagement and interest in BCA shown by investors and remain excited about supporting the next phase of the group’s growth.”

The FTSE 100 index rose 1% on Tuesday morning but is down about 8% since its recent peak on 4 September. Shares fell heavily last week as investors worried about the prospects for global growth, the stagnating eurozone economy, the spread of Ebola and geopolitical tensions, including in the Middle East and Hong Kong.