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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-balked-at-pricing-for-canceled-budweiser-listing-11563032713\nInvestors Balked at Pricing for Canceled Budweiser Listing\nAB InBev halts a nearly $10 billion listing of its Asian unit\nJan Craps, the CEO of AB InBev’s Asia unit, speaking in Hong Kong on Thursday. Photo: Kyle Lam/Bloomberg News\nJoanne Chiu and\nJoanne Chiu\nBiographyJoanne Chiu\n@joannechiuhk\njoanne.chiu@wsj.com\nP.R. Venkat\nJuly 13, 2019 11:45 am ET\nWhat would have been the year’s biggest initial public offering flopped after Anheuser-Busch InBev SA BUD -0.62% and its banks took a series of gambles that didn’t pay off.\nThe world’s biggest brewer halted a nearly $10 billion listing of its Asian unit, Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd., on Friday. It blamed market conditions for what Dealogic said was the largest withdrawn IPO since 2011.\nAs is often the case, price was key. Several prospective investors said the deal looked expensive, and noted it was being floated largely to cut the parent’s debt.\nOn top of that, the deal dispensed with the cornerstone investors that underpin most big flotations in Hong Kong. It took place in summer, when some institutions are thinly staffed. And it was simply big—especially for a market that hasn’t traded as well as the U.S. this year. A Budweiser APAC representative said it had no further comment beyond Friday’s statement.\nThe company and its bankers, led by teams from JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley , Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank AG , began gauging investor interest in June, before formally starting to take orders on July 2.\nBudweiser APAC met with investors in Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe and the U.S., and held a news conference in Hong Kong on July 4, with Chief Executive Jan Craps. Investors and journalists were both offered a plush box of bright red, Budweiser-branded goodies, including a cap and a beer glass.\nBut from the get-go, things didn’t look too healthy. Unusually, it was only after several days—on July 5—that a person familiar with the matter said the deal was covered, meaning orders matched the $8.3 billion to $9.8 billion of shares on sale.\nIf orders flood in quickly, companies are typically eager to communicate that to the market, helping build extra momentum. In this case, that slowness may have suggested to buyers that demand was weak, prompting them to scale back orders or demand a lower price, said a Hong Kong equity banker who wasn’t involved.\nA portfolio manager at one institution said it had met with the company and bankers several times, before deciding not to buy. “It doesn’t offer enough prospects for margin expansion and profit growth to justify its high valuation,” this person said, highlighting a mix of developing and mature markets, from India to Australia.\nEven the lowest end of range, or 40 Hong Kong dollars (US$5.11) a share, corresponded to a 72% valuation premium over Carlsberg and 57% over Heineken, two major European rivals, according to Sanford C. Bernstein estimates. The calculation is based on enterprise value as a multiple of earnings before interest, tax, amortization and depreciation.\nMeanwhile, dispensing with cornerstone investors may have backfired. Major Hong Kong IPOs are typically supported by these high-profile backers, who commit to buy a set dollar amount of shares wherever in the range a deal prices, and hold for six months or more, helping endorse the deal to others. Fourteen of Hong Kong’s 20 largest IPOs had cornerstone tranches, averaging roughly one-third of the total deal, according to Refinitiv.\nCornerstones can be controversial, and here bankers argued their absence would mean better price discovery, more liquidity, and better prospects for index inclusion.\nBy Thursday, investors were being guided that the deal was likely to price in the lower half of the range. There was then silence, before it was pulled late on Friday.\nWhile the IPO could have been accomplished by setting a lower price range or by selling fewer shares, the company resisted, a person familiar with the offering said on Friday. To find ample buyers for such a big deal can be challenging, this person said, and AB InBev BUD -0.62% lacked the big growth numbers offered by tech companies such as Alibaba.\nThe listing would have helped AB InBev reduce its debt load, which stood at more than $100 billion at the end of last year. However, Chief Executive Carlos Brito said in May that the company could meet its debt-reduction goals with or without the Asia IPO.\nA fund manager for a European institution said he had subscribed to the IPO, but at lower than the midpoint. He said he thought trust in AB InBev management had been damaged, which could make it harder to come back to the market.\n—Corrie Driebusch contributed to this article.\nWrite to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com and P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com\nAppeared in the July 15, 2019, print edition as 'Pricing Led Asia IPO to Fall Flat.'\nWhy investors balked at canceled Budweiser listing"