``The decision was made in light of continued global and domestic market volatility and poor market sentiments and the resultant effect on the subscription levels in the IPO,'' Wockhardt said in a statement in Mumbai today.

The health-care provider, owned by the founder of Indian drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd., got bids for 20 percent of the 25 million shares on offer, according to the National Stock Exchange Web site. Wockhardt had initially offered to sell shares between 280 rupees ($7) and 310 rupees. It cut the lower end of the price band by 20 percent and extended the closing date by two days.

``There's been a shortage of liquidity and the price of the shares on sale seems to have been on the higher side,'' said R.K. Gupta, who manages 4 billion rupees at Credit Capital Asset Management in New Delhi.

Investor enthusiasm for Indian IPOs has been waning since billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Power Ltd. garnered a record $189 billion of bids last month. A global sell-off in equities on concern the U.S. is headed for a recession has reduced or halted planned share sales in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Emaar MGF Land Pvt., the Indian unit of the biggest Middle Eastern developer, extended its IPO closing date by five days and lowered the lower end of the price band twice since Jan. 31.

Indian shares had their worst start to the year in three decades after the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index fell 13 percent last month, the biggest decline in January since at least 1980. It fell 3.4 percent today.

Refund

Wockhardt Hospitals will refund money to those who have bid for shares within 15 days, the statement said.

Overseas funds have sold $2.7 billion of Indian shares this year, compared with a record $17 billion investment in 2007 and $8 billion a year earlier, according to data posted on the Web site of the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Fitch Ratings India Pvt. gave Wockhardt Hospitals four out of five points in IPO grading, indicating ``good fundamentals.''

``The stock is priced expensive relative to its peers,'' said Vikas Sonawale, an analyst with Religare Securities in Mumbai.

The operator of hospitals posted a profit of 73 million rupees in the nine months to Dec. 31 on revenue of 2.6 billion rupees, according to share sale documents filed with the regulator.

Wockhardt planned to use the money to double its hospital chain to 31 in two years. The company on Jan. 20 said it planned to spend 5.69 billion rupees to set up new hospitals and expand the existing ones.

Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt., Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., ICICI Securities Ltd. and SBI Capital markets Ltd. were the arrangers of the share sale.

Ammana Bio-Pharma Ltd. in May 2007 withdrew its IPO after getting bids for just 0.17 times the 18 million shares on sale to raise up to 217 million rupees, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Source : bloomberg