The initial public offering (IPO) market is thawing nicely after freezing up during the financial crisis of late 2008 to early 2009.
About 62 IPOs have been launched so far this year in the United States, up from 61 for all of last year and 34 in 2008, according to Thomson Reuters.
But the stock market’s recent volatility, with corrections exceeding 12 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, means that it’s not easy street for anyone investing in IPOs.
“Are things better today? Yes,” Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, told The New York Times.
“But as I have said in the past, we’ve gone from a D+ to a C-.”
It’s no wonder then that Renaissance Capital reports 21 companies have withdrawn or postponed going public this year.
But strong companies are still sitting pretty.
“It’s a tough IPO environment, but the best companies can get through the window,” Stewart Gross, a managing director at private equity firm Lightyear Capital, told The Times.
IPO market participants are encouraged by the fact that the market isn’t full of speculative froth, as it was just three years ago.
"We are feeling hopeful, especially because this market is very sane," Jim Watson, managing general partner at venture capital firm CMEA Capital, told CNNMoney.com.
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