Major listing: A banner of South Korea’s Coupang adorns the New York Stock Exchange facade. The company raised US$4.6bil last week in the biggest US listing since Uber Technologies Inc in 2019. — AP
NEW YORK: The global market for initial public offerings (IPOs) is headed for its biggest-ever first quarter, even as scepticism grows about the US-led boom in blank-cheque listings that fuelled the frenzy.
A record US$162.4bil (RM668.76bil) has been raised by more than 600 issuers in 2021, the most ever at this point in the year, data compiled by Bloomberg show, with special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) accounting for half of the proceeds. In comparison, just US$37bil was raised in the first three months of 2020.
