IPO market condemned as 'dysfunctional'

Managers have attacked the UK initial public offering (IPO) market, branding it as ‘broken', ‘dysfunctional' and ‘dead', following a summer of delays and cancellations.

The recent market sell-off prompted a series of IPOs to be withdrawn, most recently Banco Santander, which followed UK online payments firm Skrill Group and UK vacuum pump makers Edwards Group. All three backed out of IPOs at the last minute. Globally, IPOs worth some $8.9bn have also been shelved in Q3 of this year alone, taking the total for 2011 which have been scrapped to $34bn. According to Thomson Reuters, the number of UK IPOs has dropped substantially over the past decade, from 210 in 2004, to only 23 in 2011 to date. Managers blame the decline on a lack of investor appetite. ...