All of the major US stock indexes were up double-digits on a percentage basis year to-date –Nasdaq 23.1%, S&P 500 11.7%, and DJIA 12.7% The dollar value of IPO issuance on US exchanges had nearly tripled in the first three quarters of the year. But the number of deals priced rose only modestly, a disappointment versus bullish predictions at the start of the year. An extended bull market might normally be associated with an IPO boom, but the rebound has remained elusive. Technology companies,

IFR: Without focusing too much on unicorns, one thing we often debate is the significance of multiple classes of voting shares. Index providers are now saying that companies won’t be able to join indexes if they have multiple classes of voting shares. Mike, what impact do you see that having on the tech IPO market?   Michael Kuchmek: I guess my view on different classes of voting shares is, personally, as an investor, it doesn’t really matter so much. When you’re going in and you’re investing, y

IFR: US ECM activity is actually up about 20% this year, and IPO volumes are up as well. but not really to levels that some people might have expected at the start of the year. For many that is surprising, particularly when we have the stock market indexes at record highs almost daily. Anna, why aren’t there more deals?   Anna Pinedo: I think that there’s a lot of private capital available. There are more sources of private capital than ever before, with crossover funds, family offices, sovereig

Doug Baird Citigroup Doug Baird is chairman of Citigroup’s ECM business where he is responsible for the origination, structuring and execution of equity and equity-linked financing transactions for the bank’s corporate clients. He has more than 25 years’ experience in initial public offerings, follow-on financings, convertible debt and preferred offerings, registered block trades, Dutch auction repurchases and other transactions involving the public equity markets.   Craig Dedomenico Stifel Crai

IFR: Given the dilution that results from founder shares, can SPACs really compete for assets when they come up against strategic buyers? Doug Baird: That promote can be moved around, so there’s value there that can be ultimately split between the buyer and the seller. There is a way for the market and the acquisition process to adjudicate where that promote needs to go and how that impacts value. What I’d add about SPACs is to me it’s another flavour of arbitrage for people who are trying to re