The Strategist

Thomson Reuters: IPO market skyrocketed in 2018



07/06/2018 - 04:19



Thomson Reuters assessed dynamics in the capital markets in the first half of this year. The world market of primary placements increased by 22% against the previous year and amounted to $ 98.6 billion, which is the maximum since 2015.



According to Thomson Reuters, in the first half of the year the total volume of initial public offerings around the world totaled $ 98.6 billion. This is 22% more than in the first half of the previous year and is the maximum volume since 2015. And in the second quarter, the appetite of companies and investors to the IPO has grown significantly since the volume of primary placements from April to June around the world was 10% more than from January to March.

The American and Chinese companies were the most active. The volume of US IPO since the beginning of the year reached $ 30 billion - the last time such a high activity was observed in the first half of 2014. A total of 90 primary placements were made in the USA since the beginning of the year.

The largest IPO in the US since the beginning of the year was the initial placement of AXA Equitable Holdings, the US unit of the French insurance and investment company AXA, for a total sum of $ 3.2 billion.

Thanks to the active placement of Chinese companies, the IPO market of the Asia-Pacific region in the first half of the year increased by 20% compared to the first half of last year, amounting to $ 36.9 billion. The largest Asian placement was the entry of the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi on the stock exchange. The company collected $ 4.7 billion.

In the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, the primary offering market was $ 25 billion, up 20.6% from the previous year. The largest market for IPOs in this region in the first half of the year was Germany.

The primary and secondary market (ECM) has overcome a mark of $ 400 billion for the first six months. This year, the world market of ECM reached $ 403 billion, which is similar to the figures for the same period last year. In terms of the number of placements (2664), the first half of this year lost 5% to the first half of last year.

American and Chinese companies are leading the ECM market: the volume of US placements was 32% of the global volume, and Chinese - 18%.

The leaders in the placement of shares in the first half of the year were the companies of the technological sector (17% of the total). In the second place are financial companies - 16%. The top three is closed by companies working in the healthcare sector (11%).

source: thomsonreuters.com