August gets off to a slow start with just six deals on tap for the first week of August. Only two IPOs are set for pricing, while two NYSE – American uplisting deals, a NASDAQ uplisting and a SPAC IPO round out the week. Bankers expect to raise about $145.8 million, if all six deals get done. This light IPO Calendar continues the trend of an exceptionally slow July, when only seven deals – six IPOs and a NASDAQ uplisting – were priced.
The IPO market traditionally slows down in August. Bankers typically take a break from mid-August until around the day after Labor Day in early September, But this year is shaping up as the slowest for IPOs since 2009 due to the downturn in the overall U.S. stock market, inflation at a 40-year high, rising U.S. interest rates and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
IPO professionals say that once the U.S. stock market stabilizes, they believe that big banks and larger IPOs will return to the IPO market.
In the meantime, small-cap IPOs led by smaller investment banks are likely to be the name of the game.
Stay tuned.