Healthcare and technology sectors with the newest listings amid Covid-19 pandemic.
Initial public offerings (IPOs) globally raised a record $594 billion in 2021, riding the coattails of stock market rallies, yet often disappointing investors with their subsequent stock performance.
Companies ranging from technology start-ups to blank-check acquisition firms flooded the market with offerings, capitalizing on investors’ willingness to place speculative bets as low-interest rates and the re-opening of economies thanks to Covid-19 vaccines fuelled their appetite for risk.
“It was a truly euphoric capital market when you put it in the context of new issuance activity, and in particular in the creation of newly public companies,” said Andrew Wetenhall, co-head of equity capital markets in the Americas at Morgan Stanley.
Some of those bets worked out. Those who bought into the $1.2bn IPO of lending start-up Affirm Holdings, backed by PayPal, in January have more than doubled their money, versus a 25 percent return in the S&P 500 index.
But many IPOs soured. Shares of Swedish vegan milk maker Oatly Group, which raised $1.4bn in its IPO in New York in May, are down 53 percent, while those of British food delivery app Deliveroo, which raised 1.5bn pounds ($2.1bn) when it listed in London in March, is down 46 percent.
The Renaissance IPO Index, which tracks the average performance of newly listed US IPOs, is down about 8 percent for the year, compared with a 25 percent rise in the S&P 500 index.
Some bankers cautioned that shares of some of the companies that went public in 2021 are still trading at historically high valuations, even if they took a hit after their IPO. This is because many investors were willing to pay top dollar to buy into these companies in private fundraising rounds in the run-up to their IPOs.
“The issue is that buyers of these IPOs, as well as after-market buyers, are marking losses,” said Paul Abrahimzadeh, co-head of North America equity capital markets at Citigroup.
A total of 2,097 IPOs, excluding those of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), raised $402 billion in 2021 globally, according to data provider Refinitiv. That was an 81 percent increase in proceeds and a 51 percent rise in the number of IPOs from 2020.
Including SPACs, which are shell companies that typically launch when they have lined up investors, IPO proceeds in 2021 reached $594bn, according to data vendor Dealogic.
The biggest sectors driving IPO volumes were technology and health care. There were 426 technology IPOs launched this year and 332 healthcare-related deals, collectively accounting for almost 42 percent of IPO proceeds raised by companies globally, according to Refinitiv.
Among the biggest offerings in 2021 was electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive, which raised over $12bn in its market debut in November, making it the largest US IPO since Alibaba Group in 2014.
Other major ones included Chinese online video company Kuaishou Technology, with $5.4bn in proceeds, and Korean e-commerce giant Coupang, which raised $4.6bn.
“It has been an extraordinary year for equity formation globally – I say one that is unlikely to be repeated any time soon,” said James Fleming, global co-head of equity capital markets at Citigroup Inc.
SPACs, which went public mostly in New York, raised a total of about $160bn this year, accounting for 28 percent of the total proceeds raised by US IPOs, according to Refinitiv.
They had a roller-coaster ride as investor enthusiasm for them at the beginning of the year turned to disappointment because of their poor returns.
The main SPAC exchange-traded fund, the Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF, has shed 25 percent of its value year-to-date after peaking in February.
“The peak pace of [SPACs] activity was never sustainable and now the market is consolidating. But SPACs are not going away,” said Eddie Molloy, co-head of equity capital markets in the Americas at Morgan Stanley.
The IPO pipeline for the first quarter of 2022 is strong, with social media platform Reddit, transportation tech start-up Via, software maker Cohesity, and private equity firm TPG has filed with regulators to go public.
Still, investment bankers say the recent lukewarm financial performance of many IPOs means that this year’s bonanza is unlikely to be repeated in 2022, especially if stock markets lose some steam because of inflation and other economic concerns.
There is also regulatory risk. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has cracked down on the New York listings of Chinese firms, requiring more disclosures. Ride-hailing giant Didi Global, which completed its $4.4bn IPO in New York in June, has said it will move its listing to Hong Kong, as China pushes many of its companies to go public closer to home.
“I have to think [2022] will be a down year on global issuance levels,” Mr. Fleming said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Technology Express staff and is published from a syndicated feed)
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