As the IPO counter continues to roll, the EY accounting firm says it estimates 2013 will ring up a total of 222 U.S. IPOs (or maybe 223), with cumulative proceeds generating a total of about $59.7 billion.
EY has counted 211 IPOs as of yesterday, and 10 more IPOs are on the calendar for this week, including Houston’s Cheniere Energy Partners, according to the IPO investment firm Renaissance Capital. Two more IPOs are expected next week, but the Christmas holiday should bring an end to the IPO run of 2013.
The total would, of course, be 223 if you add them all up. A spokesman for EY says its report is based on the data available as of Dec. 2, and expects at least 222 by year end. The estimates are somewhat squishy anyway. In recent weeks, for example, some life sciences companies have been postponing their IPOs at the 11th hour. Yet Renaissance Capital also projects the IPO count will end at 222 for the year, according to a note this morning from Renaissance co-founder Kathleen Shelton Smith.
If all plays out as expected, 2013 will go down as the best year for IPOs since 2005, when EY counted 224 with total proceeds of nearly $40.5 billion. EY says the projected 222 IPOs of 2013 represents a two-thirds increase over 2012, when 133 companies went public, generating about $46.3 billion in proceeds.
San Diego saw a total of seven IPOs in 2013—all in the life sciences sector.
In San Diego, “We haven’t seen that kind of activity in over a decade,” EY partner Douglas Regnier told