Renaissance Capital's Fall 2014 US IPO Preview

The US IPO Market Prepares for a Fall Surge

The US IPO market has seen 188 companies raise $40 billion in 2014, a 44% increase in deal count year-over-year. This high level of activity looks set to continue as a growing backlog suggests that up to 100 more IPOs could raise as much as $40 billion and double the year's proceeds.  That would bring 2014’s total to $80 billion, up 46% over 2013 and the most proceeds raised since 2000.

Alibaba’s potentially $20 billion offering has attracted more attention than any other IPO this year, but there are many other significant companies in the pipeline. Private equity is behind 46 IPOs that could raise $15 billion, including two we expect to be billion-dollar deals. A number of tech companies have delayed offerings but now head into a receptive IPO market. Biotech IPOs made up over a quarter of all deals this year and show no sign of slowing down; health care companies account for 30% of the pipeline.

So far this year, 261 companies have submitted initial IPO filings, surpassing the full-year 2013 total of 256. Positive performance in broader indices along with strong gains from the Renaissance IPO ETF (up 14% since May) set the stage for a robust autumn in the US IPO market with an uptick of heavyweights, most notably the Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba. Click here to view the full report.