IPO Market Improving in Q2, But Not by Much

The new issue market saw only 11 IPOs in the entire first quarter of 2016 with not a single company going public in January, making it the slowest start to the year since 2009. Neil Dhar, U.S. Capital Markets Leader for PwC, said the second quarter will be better, but only by comparison. 'On a relative basis the second quarter is looking more optimistic than the first three months of the year, but we have only seen less than 20 IPOs through early May so the new issue market is still taking a breather,' said Dhar. On a sector basis, the crop of new issues thus far this year has predominantly been healthcare and Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC), although that loosened up in April with the introductions of SecureWorks (SCWX) - Get Report and MGM Growth Properties (MGP) - Get Report to the market.