In the first quarter 2008 the number of IPOs (initial public offerings) fell sharply worldwide. In comparison with the fourth quarter 2007, their number fell by 60%. The emission volume decreased accordingly: the global volume of money collected in 236 IPOs worldwide in the first quarter 2008 amounted to just 40.9 billion US dollars (-60%). Three of the ten biggest IPOs in the first quarter took place in China, as was reported by the IPO barometer by Ernst & Young.
The unstable situation on the stock exchanges and low share prices prompted a record number of 83 companies to cancel their IPOs planned for the first quarter of 2008. 24 businesses delayed their IPOs.
In Europe the number of IPOs fell significantly by 68% as compared to the fourth quarter last year, from 145 to 46. The total amount of money received through these IPOs fell from 31.44 billion to 1.41 billion US dollars. In Germany just one business went public in the first quarter of 2008, while this number had still been 43 in the fourth quarter last year and the emission volume about 10.8 billion US dollars.
Also affected by this development in the field of IPOs are the so-called countries Brazil, Russia, India and China. In China, for instance, just 34 companies went public while in the fourth quarter last year there had been 85 of them. The emission volume amounted to just 8.58 billion US dollars which is a reduction by 69% as compared to the fourth quarter in 2007 (27.31 billion US dollars).
Most IPOs took place in Australia (30), followed by China (29), Japan (22), Canada (20), Poland (17) and India (16). 82 percent of the total emission volume was collected in the USA, China and India (USA: 20.8 billion US dollars, China 8.6 billion and India 4 billion US dollars).
The biggest emission volumes in the first quarter were registered at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) and the NASDAQ. With regard to the number of IPOs the Australian (ASX) is still leading, followed by the AIM in London and the NASDAQ in New York.
All the above figures and many more are available for download. 