Arm’s flotation could revive the market for IPOs

No matter howipoipo wild the party, it is a rare hangover that lingers into its second year. Yet after a record-smashing rave in 2021, investors in initial public offerings (s) are still nursing sore heads. Over the course of a year-long binge, they ploughed some $600bn into stockmarket listings around the world in 2021, according to Dealogic, a data firm. That is more than double the figure for 2007, in the mad gallop preceding the financial crisis, and nearly triple that for 2000, as the dotcom bubble swelled. But then soaring inflation, the end of cheap money and cratering markets put paid to the celebrations. In some places flotations all but disappeared: proceeds from American s in 2022 fell by more than 90% compared with the previous year. So far in 2023, the sombre mood has continued (see chart).