Nikko Asset Management Co. has postponed its initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as the deepening European debt crisis fuels global market turmoil.

"As there is no need for the company to raise cash through an immediate listing, the company has decided that it is appropriate to suspend the listing during this time of market volatility," Nikko Asset said in an emailed statement Friday. "The company will seek to resume its listing plans when market conditions are more stable."

Global stocks fell in the third quarter as the European debt crisis worsened, driving the MSCI World Index to its worst performance since the end of 2008.

The IPO was initially planned for Dec. 15, Nikko Asset said in a statement to the Finance Ministry. The share sales in Japan and abroad were both shelved, it said.

Nikko Asset began choosing lead underwriters for its IPO in July, three sources said at the time, setting up the first debut share sale by a major Japanese asset manager in a decade as the local equity capital market started to recover from the March natural disasters. Nikko Asset was preparing to list on the TSE as early as March 31, according to the sources in July.

The share sale was postponed "considering comprehensively the current stock market and other factors, which result from unexpected changes in the market conditions accompanied by a further escalation of the European sovereign debt crisis," parent company Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. said Friday.