Clear Street initially downsized its IPO from $1.05 billion to $364 million
AI-driven selloff and crypto decline impact investor sentiment
Clear Street plans to reconsider IPO at a later time
Adds bullets, analyst comment in paragraph 8; drops repeated reference to IPO size
Feb 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street broker Clear Street has postponed its Friday U.S. initial public offering, citing "market conditions," marking the second delayed listing in a week amid another bout of market volatility.
The postponement, announced on Thursday, comes hours after the New York-based company significantly downsized its Nasdaq IPO to $364 million from an earlier target of $1.05 billion. At the top end of the downsized range, Clear Street would have been valued at about $7.2 billion, compared with the previous aim of $11.8 billion.
The firm said in an emailed statement to Reuters that it intends to reconsider the listing at a later time.
Disruption fears from AI-first offerings have been fueling broad market selloffs, with shares of Wall Street brokerages hit on Tuesday after a selloff in software and IT stocks earlier this month.
The delay in plans by Clear Street, which was coming off a banner year, could spark soul-searching in several boardrooms that might have been eyeing a listing this year.
Clear Street's announcement follows similar moves elsewhere. Blackstone BX.N-backed Liftoff Mobile postponed its planned U.S. listing amid a software sector selloff earlier this month.
Brazilian fintech Agibank AGBK.N also slashed its offering just a day before its debut, following weak trading by rival PicPay PICS.O.
"The recent AI-driven selloff in financial stocks likely dampened investor sentiment, but the sharp decline in crypto markets also had an impact as Clear Street has served as underwriter for multiple crypto treasury capital raises, particularly Strategy's latest offerings," IPOX Research Associate Lukas Muehlbauer said, after Clear Street downsized its IPO on Thursday.
Clear Street expects net revenue between $1.04 billion and $1.06 billion in 2025, compared with its prior-year $463.6 million.
Founded in 2018, Clear Street started as a prime brokerage platform and has since expanded into other businesses, including investment banking.
(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru and Fabiola Arámburo in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona and Harikrishnan Nair)
((Ateev.Bhandari@thomsonreuters.com;))