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Carlyle and oil trader Vitol on brink of pulling €2bn‎ Varo float

The €2bn stock market flotation of one of Europe's biggest oil refining and retailing companies is close to being abandoned, underlining ‎mixed sentiment towards initial public offerings across the Continent.

Sky News understands that Carlyle, the private equity firm, and Vitol Group, the oil trading giant will reach a decision on Tuesday to abandon the Amsterdam listing of Varo Energy.

An announcement could be made later in the day, according to insiders, who cautioned that the shareholders could yet decide to proceed at a reduced valuation.

The move will come even as another Vitol-backed company, African fuel retailer Vivo Energy, unveiled plans to float on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges.

City insiders say the likely decision to abort the Varo ‎Energy initial public offering (IPO) reflects increasingly choppy demand for new listings among public market investors.

Varo, which operates across the fuel supply chain, announced plans to list on Euronext Amsterdam last month, with the promise of distributing up to half of its annual post-tax profits in dividends.

Preparations for the Varo listing have been overseen by bankers at Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) , Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) and ING.

A spokeswoman for Carlyle declined to comment, while Vitol and Varo could not be reached.