The first quarter of 2018 saw increased year-over-year IPO activity, according to a recent report published by EY. A total of 36 IPOs were completed in 1Q2018, raising $12.8 billion in proceeds. This was a 44% increase in number of deals and a 17% increase in proceeds compared to 1Q2017. U.S. IPOs made up 12.5% of the 287 IPOs that were completed globally, which raised $42.8 billion in proceeds. The median IPO size for this first quarter was $140 million, with the three IPOs over $1 billion.
The healthcare sector accounted for 25% of IPOs by the numbers and the technology sector accounted for 25% of all proceeds raised. The top five most active sectors by number of IPOs included healthcare with nine IPOs, raising $0.7 billion; energy with six IPOs raising $1.8 billion; technology with four IPOs, raising $3.2 billion; consumer products with four IPOs, raising $1.7 billion; and real estate with three IPOs, raising $2.7 billion.
Of the 36 IPOs in the first quarter of 2018, 20 elected to be listed on the Nasdaq and 16 on the NYSE. 2018 has also seen 28 new public IPO registration filings, including filings by a number of high-profile technology unicorns according to EY.
To read more, see EY’s Global IPO trends: Q1 2018 report.