AMERICAS

摘要

US stocks strung together several strong sessions last week, brightening the mood but not enough to entice many ECM issuers to test the market. No IPOs priced last week as expected and none launched save a US$400m SPAC offering from silver run acquisition. Follow-on activity was sporadic and dominated by energy companies that are seeking to strengthen their balance sheets on hopes that energy prices will soon rebound. ECM bankers almost universally expect few IPOs in the coming weeks, reflecting the poor market backdrop and disappointing IPO performance in the past year (around 70% of last year's IPOs are trading below issue) but also the traditional disruption that occurs at this time of the year associated with the filing of full-year audited accounts. "IPOs can work around that in more robust markets but we just need to get a couple of good IPOs into the market," one banker said.