Accent's Candyking cancels IPO

Initially planned for Thursday 12 December, the IPO was at first postponed due to two factory fires and currency issues. The company has now decided to cancel it completely. "There was a lot of negative coverage and turbulence in the Swedish media following our press release on Wednesday," Candyking CEO David von Laskowski told unquote". "The main owners, Accent and EQT, then decided to cancel the IPO, and I was involved in that decision too," he continued.

Von Laskowski said investors naturally become wary after such reports and that he spoke with many of them yesterday. According to him, private investors became more worried while institutional investors remained calm following the profit warnings.

Canydyking called the decision "a disappointment." It is unclear whether the company will ever attempt to list again. Von Laskowski said the door is not closed, but that the trust has been tarnished and that the IPO will not happen in the next quarter.

Swedish national newspaper Dagens Industri, among other mainstream Swedish media, criticised Candyking for its release of infomation the day before its planned listing. "Could we have released the info earlier? We've analysed the events and the answer is no. We received the information late on 10 December and sent out a press release before lunch the next day," said von Laskowski.

Candyking's IPO was first reported in September and the IPO price range was set in November.

Accent acquired the pick & mix maker in 2008 in a management buyout from Fazer Group for around SEK 1bn. EQT also invested in the business to acquire a 16% stake, with management retaining 10% of the firm's shares.

Accent could not be reached for comment.

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