India active IPO market; 26 cos raise $619 mn in Q1: EY

India was among the most active IPO markets in the EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa) region, with BSE and NSE registering 26 IPOs worth USD 619 million in first quarter this year, says an EY report.

Main boards of the two exchanges together saw four initial share sale offers of USD 573 million. In addition, 24 firms raised USD 46 million from IPOs through small and medium enterprise platforms of BSE and NSE.

The EMEIA region saw 77 IPOs worth USD 5.2 billion.

According to the quarterly EY Global IPO Trends: 2017 Q1, as many as 369 IPOs garnered USD 33.7 billion worldwide. Of this, US alone saw 34 IPOs raising USD 12.5 billion.

Asia-Pacific, led by Greater China, saw listing of 258 companies raising over USD 16 billion. In China, bourses hosted 182 initial share offers worth USD 12.4 billion.

Executive Director with an Indian member firm of EY Global, Vish Dhingra said: "India saw a promising start to the IPO activity in the first quarter despite global political uncertainty setting a stage for an accelerated growth throughout the year."

India's re-emergence as a strong, well governed economy gives further impetus to inbound investors' interest, he said, adding that with "positive macroeconomic factors, continuing regulatory and tax reforms and a robust investor and business sentiment, 2017 promises to be a healthy IPO year".

The report noted that India and the UK were the most active markets within EMEIA, with 26 and 12 initial share sale offers respectively, followed by Saudi Arabia with seven public issues.

In terms of proceeds, Spain's Bolsa de Madrid was the most active exchange, with two IPOs worth USD 1.6 billion.

This is followed by London Main and AIM with 12 IPOs worth USD 1.1 billion and India's Bombay Main Market and SME Board with 14 IPOs worth USD 407 million.

According to EY, the moderate growth in EMEIA region at the start of the year indicates the IPO resurgence in second quarter.

Looking ahead, the report said global IPOs will continue to rise in 2017, with pipelines full, particularly in Asia- Pacific as reaction to geopolitical events in financial markets has been far more positive than many had predicted.