U.S. ECM activity in January totaled $8.4B via 28 offerings. Nine IPOs raised $3.9B, on average trading up 12.5% on Day 1 with 67% pricing in or above range. Metsera, Beta Bionics, and Flowco Holdings led the charge for performance, surging 47.2%, 39.0%, and 23.8% on Day 1, respectively. Nineteen follow-on offerings raised $4.5B, averaging an -8.4% file-to-offer discount, the steepest monthly discount since July 2022 (-11.6%). Energy offerings totaled 57% of dollar volume, the highest share for the sector since February 2021.  

Despite a slow start to the year in the U.S., EMEA markets recorded the busiest January since 2019, with $7.2B across 13 offerings. Haleon and British American Tobacco both priced follow-on offerings on the London Stock Exchange raising $3.0B and $1.5B in proceeds, respectively.  

Eight SPAC IPOs raised $1.1B, marking the sixth $1B+ month in the last eight months for U.S. SPACs. Notably, six of January’s 19 follow-ons were companies that had previously gone public via a SPAC. Since 2020, 1,041 SPAC IPOs have raised $273.6B in capital. Three hundred and ninety of them have since completed a de-SPAC transition. The residual being 651 SPACs with $169.0B in capital to deploy or return to investors. Over the same period, 25.1% of de-SPAC companies acquired targets in the Technology sector. Healthcare was the second most targeted sector, accounting for 21.8% of acquisitions. Additional SPAC activity can contribute to accelerating momentum in the broader M&A market.