IPO activity in the first nine months of this year was slightly less than in the same period of 2004, as was the amount of money raised in those IPOs, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report on U.S. exchanges. Through the third quarter, 164 IPOs raised $29.9 billion, compared with 171 IPOs that raised $35.6 billion in 2004.
"We continue to see a broadening of IPO activity across industry sectors, with fewer blockbuster deals," Scott Gehsmann, North American leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Capital Markets Group, said in a news release. The average deal size fell 35% to $146 million from $223.4 million, continuing a decline begun last quarter, the report said. CF Industries Holdings, the biggest transaction in the third quarter, raised $660 million, compared with five IPOs valued at $1 billion or more during the third quarter of 2004, led by Google.
No sector truly dominated the third quarter, with deals in financial services, information technology and health, consumer products and services, and energy.
