China Dominated Global Tech IPO Market In Q3; Proceeds Skyrocket

Tom Burroughes

13 November 2017

Initial public offerings – significant liquidity events that wealth managers need to track – delivered proceeds of $1.3 billion in China as far as tech-related flotations of firms were concerned, with 11 such IPOs taking place in the third quarter of this year.

The data, as reported by , showed that IPO proceeds skyrocketed 98 per cent, while the number of IPOs rose 22 per cent from the same quarter of 2016.

When compared to the prior quarter, the increase to proceeds was a more modest 6 per cent, while the number of IPOs contracted by 31 per cent, according to PwC Global Technology IPO Review Q3 2017.
Chinese tech IPOs account for a large chunk of the global total: to put the performance of China’s tech IPOs for Q3 in perspective, 20 technology IPOs were listed worldwide, generating proceeds of $5.2 billion. That reflects a decline of 31 per cent and 15 per cent respectively from the prior quarter, and a 3 per cent decline in proceeds from Q3 2016.

In Asia, South Korea had the second most in the period with three, followed by Japan and India, each had one. Europe posted the two largest tech IPOs of the quarter, though the UK was again absent as it continues to be challenged by transitional issues associated with Brexit.

PwC said that possibly the biggest surprise of the quarter was that there was just one tech IPO in the US. Also, consistent with past quarters, there was just one cross-border offering, it added.