(Bloomberg) -- Fosun International Ltd.’s Fidelidade suspended a plan to carry out an initial public offering of Portuguese hospital operator unit Luz Saude due to “market conditions.”

The decision was taken due to “recent instability in capital markets” and tensions in the Middle East, Lisbon-based insurer Fidelidade said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. It wasn’t possible to get a “correct valuation” of Luz Saude, Fidelidade said.

The Luz Saude offering would have been Portugal’s first IPO in three years, and Tuesday’s decision means the Lisbon exchange will have to wait longer for a new stock listing. The hospital operator published its “intention to float” statement on April 10, following announcements of other IPOs by European companies including Spanish beauty and fragrance group Puig Brands SA.

Fidelidade said it will continue to assess options that will generate value for Luz Saude. It had planned to keep a majority stake in the company after the IPO.

The hospital operator’s IPO was only likely to proceed if it could achieve a valuation of about €1 billion ($1.07 billion), Bloomberg News reported in December.

“I’m a bit surprised by the decision because I thought they would be able to get the minimum amount necessary to list Luz Saude again,” said Pedro Lino, chief executive officer of Optimize Investment Partners, a Lisbon-based firm that manages about €270 million. He said Optimize was valuing Luz Saude at around €800 million.

Luz Saude, whose 29 hospitals, clinics and nursing homes make it one of Portugal’s biggest private health-care providers, was delisted from the Euronext Lisbon stock market in 2018 after China’s Fosun bought most of the shares.

Read more: China Conglomerates Speed Up Asset Sales to Beat Credit Squeeze

In Portugal, Fosun also holds a 20% stake in Banco Comercial Portugues SA, the country’s biggest publicly traded lender. The Chinese company has been carrying out asset sales and in January sold a 5.6% holding in that bank.

Insurer Fidelidade said in a management report published this week that it’s planning to carry out an IPO in 2025. Fosun holds an 85% stake in Fidelidade while Portuguese state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depositos SA owns the remaining 15%.

(Adds comments from statement in fourth paragraph, Optimize CEO in sixth, details on Fidelidade’s plans in eighth.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.