Renaissance Capital's 2014 US IPO Annual Review

Over the last year, the US IPO market set a 14-year record against a mostly low-volatility backdrop. With 273 IPOs, 2014 was the most active period of issuance since 406 companies went public in 2000. It was the second year of uninterrupted IPO activity, up 23% over 2013, due to a doubling of biotech issuance. Proceeds of $85 billion, inflated by Alibaba’s $22 billion offering, were up 55% over 2013. While various global events, such as Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, caused nervousness in global markets, they largely failed to disrupt the US IPO applecart. Average IPO performance of 16% for the year was close to the ten-year mean, but well below the 41% average return in 2013. Despite a handful of mostly small-capitalization IPOs that rose over 100%, investors hewed to strict valuation discipline, with 40% of IPOs pricing below the range. All this sets us up for a solid 2015 IPO market, as a healthy pipeline and still-positive US economic backdrop should support another year with more than 200 IPOs.

View our 2014 US IPO Annual Review