P.M. BRIEFING : Saint-Laurent Stock Issue Delayed

The flotation of shares in French fashion legend Yves Saint-Laurent was postponed today after so many would-be investors rushed to buy a stake that the offering was oversubscribed.

The shares offered in Groupe Yves Saint-Laurent, the first French fashion house to seek a stock exchange listing, were oversubscribed more than 250 times, broker Francois Dufour-Kervern said.

The issue, representing slightly more than 10% of YSL’s share capital, was rescheduled for Monday.

The offer price of 853 francs ($133) would remain, but investors would be required to place deposits equal to the number of shares requested to prevent speculative bids, Dufour-Kervern said.

“A lot of people have put in for 100 times what they wanted, and there’ll be a lot of withdrawals next week,” one British analyst predicted.