IPOs Make a Comeback: First Half Deals Total 20% More Than 1H 2023

Initial public offerings are picking up after a long slump. This is “the busiest first half since 2021,” commented Donnelley Financial Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in data and regulatory compliance, in a report.

Indeed, 82 IPOs went to market in 2024’s first half, a 37% increase over the comparable period last year, according to Renaissance Capital, an investment bank that focuses on initial offerings. In dollar terms, the results were even bigger, suggesting that 2024 deal sizes were expanding: $23.2 billion raised in toto, or 20% higher than the year-before period.

The “normal summer lull is expected to be replace with a splash as companies look to list before the November election,” the Donnelley report declared.

The most celebrated pending IPO this year likely is the offering for billionaire Bill Ackman’s investment fund, Pershing Square USA, which regulatory filings put at $2 billion, far below the $10 billion he first envisioned. He is slated to launch the IPO next Tuesday and ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

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The largest IPO of the year to date is that of Lineage, a cold storage real estate investment trust that began selling its stock last Thursday, raising $4.4 billion, at $78 per share—it since has climbed 8%. That deal was the largest since chip designer Arm went public last September, with $4.8 billion raised.

Among the other big 2024 IPOs is that of Viking Holdings, the cruise operator, which went public in May at $26 per share, raising $1.54 billion. Revenue at the cruise line has burgeoned, even though it dipped into the red in 2023—which it attributed to high debt service. The stock is up by a third since its debut.

Thus far, slightly more than half of the 2024 IPOs were priced at $50 million or above, eclipsing the tally of January-June 2023.

The mergers and acquisitions market, a close cousin to IPOs, also is seeing an improvement, according to a PitchBook commentary: “With the first half of the year complete, global M&A activity is tracking 10% to 15% ahead of 2023 both in deal count and deal value.” The count fell 10% from peak year 2021 to 2023 and the dollar volume by 34%.

A lot of hope is riding on IPO and M&A rebounds. As Charles Skorina, head of his eponymous financial executive search firm, commented in his newsletter, “The slow pace of private capital coming back to investors is another important trend that everyone is contemplating. Everyone is hoping that lower interest rates will restart more M&A and IPO activity.”