Apollo Management’s $1.5 billion initial public offering, while nothing to sneeze at, was a billion less than expected and, together with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ fund sputtering somewhat post-IPO, has about a half-dozen private equity firms thinking about putting their flotations in a holding pattern. The Blackstone Group and The Carlyle Group, according to Dow Jones Newswires, have delayed the flight of their IPOs and may scrap their flotation plans altogether, say sources close to the firms. Another biggie that is supposed to launch this month, from Texas Pacific Group, is also rethinking the timing, given current market conditions, but people close to the firm say it may go ahead anyway, given the amount of time and effort already put into it. As for the May IPO of KKR Private Equity Investors, since raising $5 billion and launching with a share price of US$25, its shares have dropped to US$22.39. The fund, says DJN, also is trading at a discount to net asset value, as KKR has invested lots of assets into conservative instruments that have yielded a measly 2% to 3%. Tack on the management fees, and investors are basically back to where they started.