IPO values up despite strife
THE TOTAL value of share offerings worldwide this year has hit its highest second quarter level since before the financial crisis, despite a near record number of floats having been pulled over the past three months.
A combined total of $62bn (£38.7bn) worth of initial public offerings (IPOs) have been priced in the past three months, according to data provider Dealogic.
The figure comes after 89 planned floats were pulled in the second quarter, the most in a three month period since the start of 2008, when 90 IPOs were withdrawn.
Bumper share offers, such as the $10bn dual London and Hong Kong listing of commodities colossus Glencore, have helped to materially boost the performance of the global IPO market.
But many new company share offers have fallen flat this year, due to continuing market volatility and a breakdown in relations between key players in the IPO market, exposed earlier this month in a special investigation by City A.M..
Since then, there is hope in the City of a restoration of order, after it emerged several top banks had been holding discussions with big investors to find a way to kick-start London’s faltering IPO market.
A total of 147 IPOs have been withdrawn in the first half of this year worldwide, the highest semi-annual number since the second period of 2008.
There have been about four and a half times as many IPOs priced in the first six months of this year as have been pulled.
Meanwhile, the total value of mergers and acquisitions deals has rocketed to $1.51 trillion in the first half of this year, up 22 per cent on the same period a year earlier, Dealogic found.