41 The rollercoaster of the world’s capital markets has been widely reported over the past year. In Israel, even after the political chaos surrounding judicial reform, July was oddly crowned the best month on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in the past year: The Tel Aviv 35 Index climbed almost 7%, while the Tel Aviv 125 Index was up by almost 6%. All this while the S&P 500 rose just 3%. Yet, July’s rises were some way from correcting the upsets on the TASE in previous months. While the Tel Aviv 35 Index has risen 4% in the year to date, in the U.S. the S&P 500 has risen by almost 20%, and the Nasdaq 100 by 37%, according to a report in Globes. In fact, as of August 1 2023, there have been 97 IPOs on the U.S. stock market, 26% down on the 131, at the same time last year. Elsewhere in the world, the trend is similar. In Germany, the DAX index rose by just 2% in July, less than the equivalent Israeli index, but it has put on more than 18% so far this year. The picture is similar in Japan, where the Nikkei 225 fell by 2.7% in July, but is up by nearly 23% for the year to date. Tokyo’s debutants in 2023 are up an average of 75% since their listings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s more than any other major Asian market that had at least USD 1 billion raised through IPOs over the period. A report from EY pointed out that in the UK main market and AIM, H1 2023 IPO activity saw a 31% drop in deal numbers compared to H1 2022, but 18 issuers raised £593m, in line with H1 2022 but way of the same period in 2021. With IPOs adversely impacted by high inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical pressures, as we move firmly into H2 2023, are there any shoots of optimism? “US reviving but far from robust” “Yes, the US IPO market is beginning to revive—although it is far from robust,” points out Anna Pinedo, securities and derivatives partner in Mayer Brown‘s New York office. “The first six months of 2023 have been the slowest first half Amidst capital markets rollercoaster, shoots of optimism
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