There’s some good news for capital markets lawyers: 2022 is over.
It was a dismal 12 months for US initial public offerings, which raised just more than $18 billion last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s down more than 95% from the record $275 billion raised in 2021, propelled by a boom in blank-check companies that have since fallen off the map, Bloomberg Law reports.
Some Big Law practitioners are cautiously optimistic that the market will thaw this year, but nobody’s expecting a return to the boom times. Companies considering a public offering are still grappling with an unpredictable market as the US Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates to tamp down inflation.
In deal count terms, only two firms, Ellenoff Grossman and Loeb & Loeb, advised on more than 10 underwriter-side IPOs last year. Maples & Calder, which specializes as local Cayman Islands counsel for SPAC IPOs, and Loeb & Loeb were the only two firms to advise on more than 10 issuer-side offerings, according to the Bloomberg data.
Douglas Ellenoff, a partner at Ellenoff Grossman, said despite the turmoil SPACs have proven they’re a “viable, legitimate way of going public.” Still, he acknwledged it was “a rough year” and that SPACs and traditional IPOs alike need to see better trading performance.
“At some point, everybody has to focus on returns and performance,” he said. Read more.
