HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese pork giant WH Group, which bought U.S. producer Smithfield Foods last year, is shelving its multibillion-dollar Hong Kong IPO as investor demand sags amid rocky financial markets, the company said Tuesday.

The decision to abandon the share offering complicates the company’s efforts to pay off loans it took out to complete the takeover of Smithfield, a deal that turned it into a global butcher with the means to source cheap U.S. pork to feed rising demand in China.

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