Nov 5 (Reuters) - Waste management company GFL Environmental said on Tuesday it will cancel its initial public offering, with no immediate plans to revisit the markets, after institutional investors pressed the Canadian firm to price its shares below the marketed range.
Last month, GFL said it aimed to raise up to $2.42 billion (C$3.18 billion), with price expected to be between $20 and $24 per share, giving the company a valuation of up to $7.56 billion. shareholders have determined that $18 per share does not represent a fair value for the company, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Dovigi said.
"So the shareholders have decided to inject more equity into the business to fund the future growth of the company and revisit the public markets at a later date," he added.
"Equity will go in on as needed depending on future growth opportunities."
Institutional investors had pushed GFL to price its deal at $18 a share, partly because of concerns about the Edmonton-based company's debt load, according to the Globe and Mail.
The company has no immediate timeline on when it will revisit the public markets, Dovigi said.
GFL, whose "Green for Life" slogan is seen across major Canadian cities, had planned to list itself on the New York Stock Exchange and its subordinate voting shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The listing would have been the largest for a Canadian company, beating Manulife Financial Corp's MFC.TO IPO in 1999, which raised about C$2.4 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
This year marked several high-profile IPOs including Uber Inc UBER.N and Lyft Inc LYFT.O , but the companies have fared poorly after their launch, amid investor skepticism over their lack of a concrete plan to profitability.
SoftBank-backed office rental group WeWork had abandoned its IPO in September as investors balked at its sky-high valuations. price of $18 per share would have helped the company to raise $1.58 billion - based on the 87.6 million shares on offer, Reuters calculations showed.
The Globe and Mail earlier reported the company's plans to scrap the IPO.
($1 = 1.3157 Canadian dollars)