“We think this is going to be one of the largest years in initial public offerings (IPOs), globally. And that is even before I talk about special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs),” observes Achintya Mangla, global co-head of equity capital markets (ECM) at JPMorgan, who believes there many reasons to be bullish about ECM activity in 2021.
Following what was a record-breaking year for equity-raising activity, in large part driven by Covid-related factors, such as the need to raise liquidity, 2021 is already shaping up to be busy year, with the first three months proving another bumper quarter. However, the composition of activity in 2021 will likely be very different. Mr Mangla says: “In 2020, we saw a lot of large recapitalisations, off the back of Covid, balance sheet strengthening exercises and some large sell downs by existing shareholders. I think some of that will continue, but 2021 will also see a very heavy pipeline of IPOs.”
