IPOs in U.S. Markets Spending Less Time in Registration

The average number of days in registration by companies that have completed initial public offerings on U.S. exchanges or the OTC Bulletin Board through July 2010 has fallen to 125, a sharp drop from the 2009 average of 216 days in registration. The 2009 average was no doubt exaggerated by dire market conditions, but the average over the prior 3-year period ranged from 134 to 140 days in registration.

Fifty-seven of the 81 underwritten deals that made it to market in the first seven months of this year spent over 90 days in the registration mill, roughly in line with the five-year average since 2005 whereby two-thirds of IPO issuers take at least 90 days.

Nine IPO issuers so far this year and ten last year managed to take 30 days or less to move from the initial registration filing to the final Form 424. Sixteen of these 19 companies are headquartered in China. Of the 100 issuers since January 2006 that spent 30 days or less in registration prior to the IPO, only STR Holdings, Inc. is a U.S.-based company.

The information reported herein was gathered using IPO Vital Signs, a Web-based system that includes all SEC registered IPOs, including REITs and those non-U.S. IPO filers seeking to list in the U.S. markets. IPO Vital Signs does not track closed-end funds, best efforts or non-underwritten deals, or IPO offerings for amounts less than $5 million.