The initial public offering for a new Bermuda reinsurer - Platinum Underwriters Holdings - got pushed off yesterday due to poor market conditions.

The IPO landscape has lacked lustre recently with a number of companies that had intended to go public in recent weeks backing out for "difficult market conditions". And the markets were dealt a further blow yesterday when news of a multi-billion dollar fraud was revealed by telecoms giant WorldCom.

The news sent already volatile stock market conditions in to a downward spiral. Despite strong business prospects, Platinum's chance of a successful IPO would be against a backdrop of extremely poor investor confidence in the current market.

A filing by the company with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also indicated that the company has yet to appoint a chief financial officer which could dissuade potential investors, given the growing scrutiny over corporate management. Platinum's delay of its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) followed the company indicating on Tuesday it could price at the lowest end of its target which had stood at $23 to $26.

Initial filings with the SEC had indicated the company, which is being set up by US insurance group St. Paul's, sought to raise $1 billion with its launch on the NYSE.

An amended SEC filing this week indicated that the company now hopes to raise about $920 million in its IPO of 40 million shares. But when the company will launch is not clear with questions over whether or not it will go ahead, as slated, this week. An investor relations spokesperson for the company yesterday would not commit to a timeline for the IPO: "Given what is happening in the market, investor confidence is clearly shaken. And we are just looking at it day by day," she said.