Freeport withdraws oil and gas business IPO

Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas, a unit of US-based copper producer Freeport-McMoRan, has withdrawn its initial public offering (IPO) in the wake of a collapse of oil and gas prices that wreaked havoc on company valuations. Since the unit filed for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June 2015, the price of West Texas Intermediate benchmark crude had fallen nearly 22% to $47.75/bl on Friday.