China Everbright Bank Co has become the latest company to scrap a first-time share sale in Hong Kong, where listings are on track for the worst year in almost a decade.

Everbright Bank will delay the offering because of "continuous sluggish capital markets and relatively low valuations of banking shares", it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange late on Sunday.

The sale could have raised about $1.7 billion, based on the price of Everbright Bank shares traded in Shanghai.

Everbright Bank had already cut the proposed size of the share sale from $6 billion last year. The lender joins companies including London-based diamond retailer Graff Diamonds Corp and Chinese machinery maker Sany Heavy Industry Co in shelving at least $4.8 billion of offerings in Hong Kong this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

China Daily-Agencies