The second quarter of 2013 showed a lot of companies presented their initial public offerings (IPO). Jack Willoughby, writing for Barron's, counted a total of 44 IPOs priced in the second quarter alone. This, he said, was more than any period ever since the final quarter of 2006. In the first half, the average deal on small-cap market shares was 16.97% on the first day. By the end of July, this rose to 39.16%.
In addition to more deals, the market exhibited balance as well. There are more diverse and mature issuers from various sectors. Offers from technology, construction, healthcare, and finance/insurance sectors all make up more than 10% of the dollar volume.
CEO of Keating Capital Tim Keating agreed. "I'd characterize the IPO market as white hot," he said. Portfolio manager of Renaissance Capital in Connecticut Linda Killian said the boom comes from the last two years when there was a backlog of supply due to the financial crisis in Europe. "This is the first time in a number of years that we've been able to put together several quarters of uninterrupted deal flow," she said.
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