Asia is supposed to be where the money is. That is why companies around the world planning initial public offerings have been flocking to Hong Kong. Not any more, perhaps. It is getting tougher to convince Asia-based equity investors to part with their cash, as South Korea’s Hyundai Oilbank and global brands such as Graff Diamonds and Formula One have discovered.

The slowdown in the Asian IPO business is steep. Two-fifths of withdrawn or postponed listings this year were due to be in Asia. That is up from a quarter in 2011, according to Dealogic. Put another way, half of all IPOs planned for Asia this year by value – $7bn – have been pulled, the highest rate in more than five years. One reason could be the poor performance of those that went ahead in earlier years: companies that listed in Asia in 2010 have seen their share prices fall by an average of a quarter compared to a 5 per cent drop for the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index over that period.

The IPO trend illustrates another one: the region’s growing retirement industry. Malaysia, where IPOs have invariably proceeded, is a case in point. The country has pension fund assets of 109 per cent of its output, according to HSBC. One consequence is that Felda Global Ventures, the palm oil plantation listing in Kuala Lumpur, secured domestic pension funds as cornerstone investors. Pension assets in China and India, on the other hand, are just 30 per cent of output, and in Indonesia a mere 7 per cent. This will grow, but only slowly.