Holiday IPO rush

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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: It’s not your imagination. There really are more initial public offerings at this time of year. We asked Alisa Roth to find out why.

ALISA ROTH: They may not have the panache of Google, but some 17 stocks are expected to start trading for the first time over the next few days.

Just like the rest of us, the markets will start to slow down next week as investors get ready for the holidays and they don’t really get going again until mid-January.

David Menlow is president of research firm IPOFinancial.com.

He says it’s not just the companies themselves that are pushing the last minute blitz.

DAVID MENLOW: The end of the year does mark the fiscal end of most of the brokerage firms and bonuses really quite simply are paid on the basis of the profitability that various departments can generate.

He said having lots of investors around is key to a successful IPO, so companies are careful to schedule them away from holidays that shut the markets.

In New York, I’m Alisa Roth for Marketplace.