German car parts firm Schaeffler scales down IPO amid VW crisis

German car equipment manufacturer Schaeffler on Monday substantially scaled back its stock offering expectations, after the auto sector was rocked by the massive pollution-cheating scandal at Volkswagen.

The group, which had already on Friday announced a delay on its planned stock market flotation, said it would now float 75 million shares at between 12 and 14 euros on October 9.

The company is therefore expecting to raise 975 million euros from the market -- only a third of the 3 billion euros that had been mentioned in its initial plans.

"Given the current market volatility we have decided, together with our shareholders, to complete the overall transaction in steps," said Klaus Rosenfeld, Schaeffler chief executive.

The family-owned company had originally targeted Monday for the start of trading, and was planning to place 166 million shares.

But conditions on the stock market are currently volatile for the automobile sector in particular, as a result of the global uproar triggered by revelations that Volkswagen fitted 11 million diesel engines with sophisticated software that could skew emission test results.

Earlier this week, Covestro, the polymers division of German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer, delayed and scaled down its ambitions for its own IPO, citing the VW scandal as one of the reasons.

Schaeffler specialises in high-precision components and systems in engine, transmission and chassis applications as well as rolling and plain bearing solutions for a large number of industrial applications.

It had annual sales of around 12.1 billion euros in 2014 and employs 84,000 people at manufacturing locations, research and development facilities and sales companies at approximately 170 locations in 50 countries.