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Reuters fund IPO delayed?
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October 16, 2000: 4:42 a.m. ET
Report: UK data and news firm to delay floating Greenhouse Fund until 2001
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Financial data and information provider Reuters Group PLC has delayed its plan to take public its Internet incubator Greenhouse Fund by the end of the year, in a sign that demand for new stock issues in the Internet and media sectors is still sluggish.
The fund, which has a portfolio including big-name portals such as Yahoo! and Go.com as well as Internet security service provider VeriSign and software used to connect gadgets to the Internet, is expected to go public early next year, the Financial Times reported. Reuters had originally intended to take the fund public by the end of June 2000, the paper said.
The IPO has already been pushed back once, and executives said the recent investor disenchantment with technology and media sectors have led to the delay, the paper reported. Reuters has not officially called off the IPO, the FT said, however voices within the company are saying Greenhouse may be better off remaining as an unlisted unit within Reuters.
A Reuters spokesperson declined to comment on the report.
As of June 30, according to Reuters' latest quarterly earnings report, the Greenhouse Fund's holdings in publicly listed companies were valued at £243 million ($353 million), and the fund had generated £42 million from the sale of holdings. Reuters increased the number of its investments to 60 from 38 in the first six months of the year, and three of those companies were taken public.
At the time of the earnings release in July, Reuters said it was working toward a floatation of Greenhouse, but added market conditions would determine the exact timing.
In London Monday morning, Reuters (RTR) rose 31 pence, or 2.7 percent, to 1,190.75. 
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