new issues in London Stock market listings surge in 2010

new issues in London Stock market listings surge in 2010 ; Figures from the London Stock Exchange show that the number of new companies achieving full listings quintupled in 2010 and they raised nearly ten times as much as in 2009. There were 46 newly floated companies, which raised £9.11bn – up from £921m in 2009. The cash figure is also well above the 2008 total of £6.3bn.

Betfair, Ocado and SuperGroup have taken the headlines in the past year but Indian oil company Essar Energy alone raised £1.3bn, which is more than those three companies.

Three Russian companies - Transcontainer, O'Key and Mail.ru – raised £1.2bn in November. International companies raised the vast majority of the new money.

There was a sharp fall in further money raisings by existing listed companies. A total of £14.7bn has been raised in 2010, compared with £76.3bn in 2009 when large financial companies’ were still trying to shore up their balance sheets.

In terms of total money raised, the 2010 figure of £23.8bn is the lowest since 2005.

The number of AIM flotations increased from 13 to 43 during the past year. India has been an increasing source of new companies. The rise in money raised from £610m to £961m is more modest than their Main Market counterparts. Existing AIM companies also raised slightly more cash – up from £4.86bn to £5.1bn. The total increased from £5.6bn to £6.3bn.

The new issue figures are up until 20 December, while the secondary fund raisings are up until 17 December. This means that there will be increases to the latest figures but there are no large fundraisings likely to complete in the last few days of the year.

Stock market listings surge in 2010
The number of stock market flotations more than quadrupled in 2010 amid a revival for company listings, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has revealed. More stable market conditions saw 89 initial public offerings (IPOs) on the LSE over the past year, up from just 22 last year.

The LSE said firms listing on the London market raised £10.1 billion against £1.5 billion the year before when the recession hit investor appetite for IPOs.

This year has seen a swathe of firms joining the LSE, including online grocery delivery service Ocado, Superdry fashion group SuperGroup and more recently Betfair, the world's largest international online sports betting provider.

In July, Essar Energy - one of India's top private sector power and oil and gas firms - also listed raising £1.3 billion, marking the largest ever Indian IPO in London.

Tracey Pierce, director of equity primary markets at the LSE, said: "We have seen a rejuvenation in the IPO market during 2010. "Whilst last year our markets supported a significant amount of fundraising through further issues, 2010 injected some very positive signs of life into the new issues market, including a number of major wins for London."

But not all this year's IPOs have been an immediate success in a sign that investors are still wary.

Ocado listed in July with a significant amount of fanfare, but major doubts over its value saw the launch price slashed to 180p and it lost 10% on the first day of dealings. Despite recent takeover speculation, Ocado shares are still trading below their debut price, at around 171p. For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today

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