Green shoots are finally popping up in the market for US initial public offerings, but don’t look for a spring bloom just yet.
(Bloomberg) — Green shoots are finally popping up in the market for US initial public offerings, but don’t look for a spring bloom just yet.
About seven IPOs are expected to raise a combined $900 million and begin trading by Friday, making for the busiest week since October’s $990 million listing by Intel Corp.’s self-driving technology unit Mobileye Global Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
This week’s debuts include solar power equipment maker Nextracker Inc., which plans to raise as much as $535 million in what would be the year’s biggest deal yet. Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd., which is already public in Israel, plans to add a listing on the Nasdaq.
While the listings suggest equity capital markets are beginning to thaw, issuers and dealmakers are still playing it cool.
Market history shows pops here and there don’t always translate to a reopening of the IPO floodgate. Only two weeks during the past 10 months saw more than $500 million in IPO volume, with a couple big deals — Mobileye and Corebridge Financial Inc.’s $1.7 billion listing — doing almost all the heavy lifting.
An uncertain market can require extra planning and wait time between filing for an IPO and tapping investors in the actual share sale. That allows companies more time to conduct informal discussions — so-called testing the water meetings — with prospective investors, dealmakers said. Nextracker, for example, confidentially filed for its listing in 2021.
This week’s offerings include an unexpected comeback by IPOs of Chinese companies, which largely steered clear of US exchanges in the second half of last year due to geopolitical concerns as well as China’s efforts to keep homegrown firms for its own exchanges. This week, lidar-maker Hesai Group is set to raise as much as $171 million, while tax preparation service Lichen China Ltd. started trading Monday.
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