The 2012 U.S. IPO market has had some tough knocks. Having gained slight momentum early on, picking up steam on the heels of a tough second half in 2011, things were looking somewhat brighter. That was until fears of Eurozone defaults and a bad showing on the part of Facebook’s IPO weighed into the going public equation. Seventy-nine IPOs priced in this year’s first half compared to 93 in the same period last year. Interestingly, thanks to the $16 billion IPO windfall brought in by Facebook’s troubled deal , first half 2012 aggregate IPO proceeds exceeded those garnered in the same period last year by roughly $2.4 billion.
With ten IPOs in the first half of 2012, SIC 7372 (Services-Prepackaged Software) saw a four deal-improvement over its 2011 performance. SIC Codes 1311 (Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas) and 2834 (Pharmaceutical Preparations) were in step with their first half 2011 pace. Having tougher times of it were SIC 3674 (Semiconductors & Related Devices), which priced three deals in the first half 2012 compared to five in that of 2011, and 6770 (Blank Checks), which saw a substantial first half drop from 12 completed deals in 2011 to just three this year.
The contrast between first half 2011 and 2012 is more starkly seen in the number of initial IPO filings. 165 companies filed to go public in first half 2011; only 86 did so this year. 2012’s most prolific contributors to the IPO pipeline were the Energy/Natural Resources and Biotech Pharmaceuticals sectors. The former contributed 12 IPO-hopefuls to the line-up and the latter contributed eight. With six new deals proposed in first half 2012, SIC 7372 (Services-Prepackaged Software) topped its 2011 same period total by one. Mirroring its performance in completed deals, Blanks Checks were down significantly with a decline from 20 initial filings in first half 2011 to just six in 2012.
Given how rough the IPO market waters have become, the total number of withdrawals in the first half of 2012 could have looked much worse when stacked up against the RW tally for the same period 2011. Withdrawals saw a period over period increase from 39 last year to 44 this year. No one industry contributed disproportionately to first half 2011’s withdrawal total, and the same can pretty much be said about this year’s IPO drop-outs. The highest number of RWs filed by any one segment was the seven deals abandoned by REIT filers.
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.
