United States Reclaims Top Spot in IPOs from China

The United States has reclaimed its former status as the world’s leading nation for initial public offerings (IPOs) this year after losing it to China in 2009. That’s mainly because the value of China’s IPOs have plunged this year.

So far this year the value of all IPOs by Chinese companies around the world totaled $7.7 billion, a 66% fall from the same period last year. Meanwhile, the value of IPOs by US companies also fell 37% to $11.9 billion, according to UK consultancy Dealogic.

Chinese firms raised just $4.1 billion in IPOs in April, the lowest level since December 2003. The US resurgence will be enhanced by Facebook’s IPO slated for next week.

China first took the global IPO lead in 2009 with $54 billion, over twice the $26.5 billion logged by the US that year. China enjoyed a big advantage that year because the US and Europe were deep into the global recession while China was able to raise funds in Asian capital markets which suffered far less damage from the mortgage crisis.

Chinese firms continued to dominate the global IPO market through 2011. They have begun to lose their luster since the latter half of 2011 due to the central government’s tightening of bank lending as well as the falling stock prices on the Hong Kong exchange as western investors began repatriating capital to cover losses at home. There were also a number of management scandals among Chinese firms that made investors nervous.

In a bid to raise investor confidence, last month the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued new IPO guidelines to curtail questionable valuation practices for China’s A-share market. Overvalued IPOs were cited as a leading problem to be addressed, said commission chairman Guo Shuqing.