More firms going private than public

The divide continues a trend that started early last year when the market collapsed as the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates. — Bloomberg

NEW YORK: Turmoil across equity capital markets over the past 18 months has resulted in more companies being taken private this year than listing via traditional initial public offerings (IPOs).

There have been 47 proposed or completed deals to take a public firm private with a total value of US$113bil (RM525bil), according to research from Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Andrew Silverman.