After a dreadful 2011, the global IPO market has struggled to get back on track in 2012. In the first quarter, global IPO proceeds declined 66% year-over-year to $12.5 billion and deal activity fell 52%. Proceeds raised globally this quarter were the lowest since the second quarter of 2009. Despite this weak activity, the IPO market made progress in the first quarter as strong overall returns helped facilitate growing investor confidence in the asset class and as US deal activity picked up. Newly public companies outperformed the broader equity market evidenced by the FTSE Renaissance Global IPO Index, which generated a first quarter return of 14% compared to the 10% return of the MSCI All Country World Index.