South Beauty says it will not go public in near future
South Beauty, a high-end restaurant group, said on Friday that it will not go public in the near future due to the gloomy industry environment.
According to a report in Wen Wei Po, South Beauty aimed to go public in a deal valued at $100 million to $200 million last year.
Another two high-end eateries, ShunFung and Jingya, withdrew their IPO applications this year due to the adverse market situation, the China Securities Journal reported.
Growth in China's catering industry has declined to its slowest rate recently as the government is cracking down on the purchase of luxury products and extravagant banquets with public funds.
In the first four months of the year, the sales revenue of the country's catering industry reached 771.2 billion yuan ($126 billion), a year-on-year growth of 8.3 percent, which was 37.6 percent down from the same period last year, the China Cuisine Association said.
As a result, luxury restaurants were forced to enter a new phase of business adjustment. South Beauty said it has launched a series of new measures to deal with the challenging situation, including introducing new menus besides its house specialties and kicking off delivery services.