A banner year for IPOs
It's been a robust year so far for initial public offerings. Taking a company public raises money for the corporation, and a new report says firms have already raised billions in 2007. Janet Babin reports.
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Doug Krizner: More money has been raised in IPOs this year since the heady days of the tech boom. From the Marketplace Innovations Desk at North Carolina Public Radio, Janet Babin reports.
Janet Babin: The Dow Jones Venture One report says 22 companies raised $2.73 billion in IPOs. That’s the highest quarterly IPO total since 2000.
Valerie Foo at Dow Jones Venture One says two sectors stood out:
Valerie Foo: So far in the second quarter, health care and IT are kind of carrying the bulk here of the 22 transactions.
Steve Nelson is with the VC firm Wakefield Group. He prefers to review IPO results over a three-year period instead of looking to quarterly reports. But long-term, he’s cautiously optimistic about the IPO outlook:
Steve Nelson: Good news, but no cause yet for absolute jumping and jubilation.
The report also found that mergers and acquisitions dipped to their lowest quarterly level since 2003, a signal that venture capitalists may be shifting the way they get their money out of companies they’ve invested in.
I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.