Current Trends in IPOs

In 2006, high investor confidence fueled a worldwide market for Initial Public Offerings ('IPO' or 'IPOs'). The amount of capital raised worldwide by companies going public rose to a record U.S. $246 billion. The number of new listings also rose sharply to 1729, which is the highest number in a calendar year since 2000. Moreover, Global IPOs in the first quarter of 2007 raised U.S. $36.5 billion through 371 IPOs. Globally, such numbers reflect that a wide diversity of companies are going public.

The United States IPO market is also robust. Notwithstanding the market's current volatility as a result of the chaos in the sub-prime credit market, a good company with strong operating and financial performance, even if it's not in the most active sectors, will find a receptive IPO market. For example, according to Dow Jones VentureOne, in the second quarter of 2007, U.S. venture-backed companies raised $2.73 billion through 22 companies going public in that period, which was more than double the aggregate amount raised in the same period last year, and the highest quarterly amount raised since the third quarter of 2000. The year 2006 was also a good one for IPOs in the U.S., with 187 deals raising U.S. $34.1 billion. One-third of all U.S. IPOs were venture backed, which underscores the key role of the U.S. venture capital industry. Furthermore, private equity had a major role as well. For example, in 2006, 34% of the IPO proceeds and 27% of IPOs were attributed to companies that engaged in private equity backed buy-outs. In the U.S., IPO activity is expected to be led by health care, e-commerce, financial services and energy companies.