U.S. issuance of initial public offerings cratered 69% in the first half of 2008 as volatile stock markets and credit fears prompted nearly five dozen companies to yank their plans to go public.

 

According to preliminary data from Dealogic, some 41 companies came to the market with $29.4 billion worth of IPOs from January to June. While the number of deals sank, total volume was down just 1% thanks to the extremely large $19.65 billion IPO from Visa Inc. However, some 57 companies pulled their IPO plans in the first half, nearly double for the same period last year. In fact, if you look at IPOs on a quarterly basis, the second quarter was the worse for IPO issuance since 1995. With just 16 companies raising $5.2 billion, the number of IPOs fell 79% from the same quarter last year, while volume sank 73%.  

 

The primary cause? Choppy stock markets. Recent conditions of American markets, which have swooped in and out of bear territory as oil prices have hit new records and the housing collapse has destroyed the real estate sector, have simply drove would-be issuers away.  

 

No wonder so many investment bankers are losing their jobs nowadays!