LONDON: Motor sport racing company Formula One has delayed its Singapore initial public offer worth up to $3 billion, the fifth big Asian IPO to be postponed or pulled in a week, as weak markets bring the global market for new listings to a shuddering halt.

Worldwide, money raised from stock market flotations has slumped 46 per cent so far this year compared with the same period of 2011, with investors wary of the euro zone crisis, China's economic slowdown and last month's botched Facebook IPO.

Formula One, which planned to list in Singapore, has become the latest issuer to hit the brakes, dropping plans to lodge its IPO prospectus with Singapore regulators early next week, sources familiar with the company's decision said yesterday.

But Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's boss and a part-owner of the company, said that Formula One was biding its time, not scrapping the IPO altogether, and that its bankers would continue to meet prospective investors.

On Thursday, London luxury jeweller Graff Diamonds ditched its $1bn IPO in Hong Kong.