Japan's largest cable operator, Jupiter Telecommunications, has postponed its scheduled December 8 initial public offering (IPO) on the Mothers market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Company management decided that, given the beatings that IPOs have recently taken on Mothers, it would be difficult to raise funds at their asking price. Jupiter has also delayed its scheduled December 7 listing of American Depository Shares (ADS) on the Nasdaq market, citing instability in global markets.

The company, which had planned to add $505m (Y55bn) to corporate coffers from its stock market flotations, said it still intends to raise what it describes as "necessary funds" from the markets at a future date.

A joint venture of Sumitomo Corp, Microsoft Corp and Liberty Media Group, Jupiter recorded a consolidated net loss of $102m (Y11.13bn) on group sales of $282m (Y30.74bn) in 1999. In the first half of 2000, the company suffered a group net loss of $56m (Y6.12bn) on group sales of $211m (Y23.08bn).