Formula One Group is delaying its initial public offering worth up to US$3bn in Singapore citing weak market conditions, with the sport's head and part-owner, Bernie Ecclestone, saying that the firm was waiting for the right time to tap the markets.

Ecclestone was quoted as saying that it would be wrong to talk of any delay because no firm date had been set for an IPO: "It is going to be this year, we said we would do it this year," he was quoted as saying.

Formula One has dropped plans to lodge its IPO prospectus with Singapore authorities next week, according to reports, as private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners is not in a hurry to launch its offering and will continue to test investor appetite before making a firm offering.

CVC Capital Partners, the major shareholder in Formula One, unveiled a US$1.6bn deal last month to sell a 21% stake in the business to US investments groups Waddell & Reed and BlackRock, along with Norway's Norges Bank Investment Management. The sale cut CVC's stake to around 42%.

Bankers were in the process of launching pre-marketing for Formula One's IPO and were planning to launch the preliminary prospectus with the Monetary Authority Of Singapore by June 5, reports suggested.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS have been hired to lead the Formula One IPO.

It is the fifth major IPO to be pulled or delayed in Asia over the past week alone as global markets have tumbled on concerns over the long-running eurozone credit crisis and slowdown in the Chinese economy.

Investors are also wary of new IPOs following the disastrous debut of social network giant Facebook. The stock price of Facebook has fallen 22% in 10 trading sessions since its debut in the United States.

On Thursday, UK-based jeweler Graff Diamond Corp. pulled its US$1bn IPO in Hong Kong, citing weak market conditions.

Australia's Cape Lambert Resources Ltd. said Thursday it has delayed a planned IPO of its Marampa iron ore project due to volatility in capital markets.

Globally, the amount raised from stock market offerings is down 46% this year from the same period of last year. Excluding Facebook, 72 US-listed firms have filed, raising US$13.1bn, which is down 53%, according to data provider Thomson Reuters.