Initial public offerings raised almost $20 billion globally in the first quarter, as companies from Pfizer Inc. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. took advantage of a rally in stock markets to sell businesses.
IPOs generated 18 percent more than in the year-ago period, led by Pfizer’s $2.6 billion sale of its animal-health unit Zoetis Inc. and Goldman Sachs’s offering of shares in German apartment landlord LEG Immobilien AG, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of March 27.
Initial offerings declined to about half the level of the fourth quarter, when companies raised about $37 billion.
“We’re in a world where investors believe in repair and global recovery,” said Evan Damast, global head of equity syndicate at Morgan Stanley in New York. “While there are still a handful of skeptics proceeding with caution, the global investor base is very receptive to growth stories.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to a record this month and the MSCI World Index rose to its highest in almost five years. Sustained gains may help ease the biggest global backlog of IPOs since at least 2007, encouraging companies including Bausch & Lomb Holdings Inc. and China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to pursue offerings as soon as this year.
The U.S. led IPO fundraising in the first quarter, with companies raising $8.91 billion, 44 percent more than a year ago, data compiled by Bloomberg show. European companies generated $3.66 billion, a 25 percent increase. Asia was the biggest market to post a decline, with IPOs slumping 59 percent to $2.88 billion.
‘Golden Age’
IPOs are likely to gather pace in the second quarter as companies across more industries proceed with sales and more private-equity firms seek to exit investments, said Mary Ann Deignan, head of Americas equity capital markets at Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp.
“This may be the beginning of another golden age for IPOs,” said Deignan. “It’s an incredibly broad market.”
Companies in industries ranging from energy to technology, homebuilding and real estate went public in the first quarter, emboldened by the projected economic recovery and the least volatile market in six years. The VIX, a measure of volatility in U.S. stocks, has lost 45 percent since the end of 2011.