Looking East (Note from London)
At the London WFS conference, everyone seemed to be looking East. The European IPO market is basically dead – it accounted for only .5% of the total money raised globally in IPOs in the last quarter. There were 7 listings on the NASDAQ, but 5 of them were Chinese companies. A very experienced UK exec who has bought and sold 2 dozen companies commented that he took his company off of NASDAQ due to Sarbox compliance costs and runaway director liability. He has a long memory – he got burned in the derivative shareholder lawsuit debacle in the late 1990s. Jenny Rosberg from NASDAQ cited the coming wave of new US IPOs as cause for hope. The first half of 2010 may see a wave of new issues – but only if the overall markets sustain the current rally.
Posted by NatBurgess, President on 20 November 2009
Comments (0)