Despite being marked by frequent record highs in public equity markets and remarkably low volatility, 2017 has observed relatively few new initial public offerings. Debuts by portfolio companies of private equity and venture capital firms scarcely differ. In the 2017 US PE & VC IPO Trends Report, sponsored by Deloitte and Donnelley Financial Solutions, PitchBook analysts delve into why IPO activity remains low, parsing historical datasets for key trends and taking current macroeconomic indicators into account.
Key takeaways:
Although outstripping 2016's tepid totals, PE & VC-backed IPO activity remains lackluster, with 74 sponsor-backed companies going public through the first 10 months of the year, raising just under $18 billion.
The average offering size has increased dramatically, illustrating the skew of IPOs toward the larger side.
Has the paradigm of the public-private divide shifted in an era of unprecedented availability and ease of access to massive funding rounds?
