Last year saw a dramatic slowdown in global IPO activity, with the total value of deals plummeting by 72% to $171,2-billion. However, 2023 doesn’t look much better as high inflation, rising interest rates, and the gloomy economic outlook continue to make fundraising difficult.
According to data presented by AltIndex.com, global IPO activity dropped by 28% year-over-year, with the total value of deals reaching $79,1-billion last week.
Last year was not a good year for companies looking to transition to public ownership. The turbulent economy made investors more wary of taking risks and less likely to invest, while poor post-IPO share price performance caused a delay of many IPOs throughout 2022. Many market observers forecasted a weak outlook for 2023, and they were right.
The Wall Street Journal and Dealogic data show that most markets, except European and Japanese, saw a double-digit IPO activity drop this year. US companies raised $11,7-billion through IPOs in eight months or 16% less than in the same period a year ago.
The Asian market saw an even bigger slowdown, with the total value of all deals falling by 29% year-over-year to $50.5bn. However, that is nothing compared to the drop in the IPO markets in Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.
The total value of deals in the Canadian market slumped by 88% YoY to only $200-million. The Middle East, Africa, and Latin America follow with 59% and 57% IPO activity drop.
Statistics show Europe and Japan were the only regions witnessing a positive trend. While the European market saw the total value of deals rise by 2% year-over-year to $7,4-billion, the Japanese IPO activity surged by 306% and hit $2,7-billion in eight months of the year.
Although the tech IPO market collapsed in 2022, with not a single tech deal raising one billion dollars, technology companies are still leading the global IPO activity this year.
So far, tech companies have completed $21,8-billion worth of IPOs, or $4-billion less than last year. The healthcare sector has seen the second-largest IPO activity with $6.14bn worth of deals. Machinery, consumer products, and finance companies follow, with $6,1-billion, $5,9-billion, and $5,8-billion, respectively.
Statistics show CITIC Securities is the number one advisor on IPOs this year, with nearly $6,3-billion worth of deals year-to-date. China Securities ranked second on the global IPOs bookrunner list, with $5,15-billion worth of deals in eight months. CCIC and Haitong Securities follow, with $3,08-billion and $2,88-billion, respectively.