Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 12/17/09

National Beef Inc. said Thursday the company has decided to shelve its previously announced initial public offering amid waning confidence in the IPO market.

"Today National Beef postponed its planned initial public offering due to current weakness in the IPO market," spokesman Simon McGee said in a statement e-mailed to Meatingplace.

The company, which was expected to trade Friday, declined to provide further comment.

National Beef's announcement comes as the IPO market struggles to garner confidence from investors. In the last two weeks alone, four issues had to lower prices to make it to market, according to a report by Reuters which added that last week half of the eight scheduled IPOs were either canceled or postponed.

National Beef planned to offer shares of its Class A common stock for $15 to $17 apiece, which, if priced at the midpoint of that range, would have yielded $276 million. The company said it would use a portion of the proceeds to buy 11.8 million units from the founders of National Beef Packing Co., its sole asset.

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