SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean builder POSCO Engineering & Construction said on Monday it would postpone a $1.1 billion share offering due to volatile stock markets, the second delay of a major Korean IPO in the past two months.

The setback comes after technology outsourcing firm SK C&C put off similar sized initial public offering in July, amid a severe downturn in global equities this summer.
POSCO E&C, 89.5 percent owned by the world’s No. 4 steelmaker POSCO, planned to offer shares worth up to 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) this month, which would have made it the country’s biggest IPO in 2-½ years.
“The timing of the IPO will be delayed and it will be relaunched when the financial market stabilizes so that POSCO E&C can receive fair valuation from investors,” a POSCO spokeswoman said.
A POSCO E&C official also said it had yet to start investor roadshows for the pricing of its share offering, with the schedule to be decided later.
The regional IPO market got off to a dismal start this year, with the value of offerings in Asia ex-Japan tumbling 42 percent to $22.8 billion in the first six months of 2008 as global stock markets tanked, according to Thomson Reuters data.
In South Korea, the benchmark KOSPI has fallen over 20 percent this year and hit its lowest level in 18 months last week. The KOSPI jumped over 5 percent on Monday after the U.S. government took control of troubled mortgage lenders, easing credit worries and boosting financials.
POSCO E&C planned to issue 4.26 million new shares to the public, with its top shareholder POSCO selling another 4.73 million existing shares in the firm, at between 100,000 won and 130,000 won apiece.
The indicative range would value the company, ranked sixth nationwide in terms of construction capacity, at up to 4.5 trillion won.
The share sale was planned to give the construction firm firepower to expand overseas investments, especially in the oil-money rich Middle East's booming energy industry.
South Korean construction firms, global frontrunners in the building of refining and petrochemical facilities, have been actively seeking overseas projects as the domestic housing market cools in the face of weakening private consumption and investment.
The share sale will also strengthen the bottom line of POSCO, which is seeking to buy Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in a deal that might be worth up to 8 trillion won.
Founded in 1994 through the combination of POSCO’s construction and development units, POSCO Engineering also serves POSCO’s steel plant construction arm at home and abroad.
It earned 206 billion won in net profit last year on revenue of 3.5 trillion won.
Daewoo Securities and Merill Lynch are the lead managers for the POSCO E&C IPO. ($1=1117.3 Won)