The return of IPOs: Back with a boom

Publisher: The Economist

In 2013, the IPO market surged as 222 companies decided to go public to mark a strong year.

It was a seven fold increase from 2008, according to Renaissance Capital, a research and asset-management firm. Whether the surge in public offerings will continue in 2014 has yet to be seen, but companies are analyzing last year’s IPO enthusiasm to gauge whether this year will be another good year for IPOs. Many notable companies are thought to be on the verge of submitting registration statements to begin the process for publicly listing shares of their company. If the IPO market continues to surge into this year, large financial firms will use the opportunity to restructure themselves; either by spinning off divisions as separate, stand-alone businesses or by disposing ownership of companies they are no longer interested in.

The crown jewel of the expected IPOs of 2014 is Alibaba, one of China’s largest e-commerce platforms. The rest of the expected IPO class of 2014 include: La Quinta, Square, GoPro, and Palantir Technologies. For full access to the article, please click here.