London IPOs are down 43 per cent by volume from last year as JP Morgan wins battle of the bookrunners
The volume of IPOs in London has hit $6.9bn (£4.4bn) so far this year – that's 43 per cent lower than this time last year.
The 22 flotations which have taken place in London so far this year – which include Auto Trader's £2bn IPO, Revolution Bars' £100m listing and that hair-raising IPO of Integrated Diagnostics on election day – are well down on the $12.1bn raised via 26 deals by this time last year.
It's also a disappointing performance when compared with the $27.7bn of IPOs which have taken place via 110 deals on European exchanges, which are still down on last year's figure, but only by six per cent.
The good news was that average one-day aftermarket performance has jumped to 5.8 per cent, from 2.7 per cent this time last year. Integrated Diagnostics was the best performer on that front this year, with shares jumping 25.8 per cent on its first day of trading.
Auto Trader is this year's biggest deal so far, and well as being the largest-ever listing on the London Stock Exchange. That's set to be quashed in July, when antivirus software giant Sophos lists with an expected target valuation of more than $1bn, while WorldPay is expected to IPO later this year, raising $1.5bn.
Meanwhile, the bookrunner race is being won by JPMorgan, which has a 12 per cent market share. That's closely followed by Deutsche Bank (also 12 per cent) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, with 10.4 per cent.