PB: The IPO drought wants to end

PITCHBOOK reports:

The IPO market remains dry, and a comeback to its pre-2022 glory will rely on a confluence of factors. Among them: a stabilized macroeconomic environment, more clarity on the direction of interest rates, greater alignment on pricing between buyers and sellers, and a company that leads the pack back onto the public exchanges.

When these factors converge, the return to public listings will likely be swift and explosive—when that may happen depends on who you ask.

Welcome back to The Weekend Pitch. I’m Jessica Hamlin, and you can reach me at [email protected] or on Twitter @jessicaAhamlin.

For now, tumbleweeds continue to blow through the NYSE.

“You’ve got to stop saying that, Jessica—that the IPO window is closed,” David Ethridge, US IPO services leader at PwC, said to me in a call last week. “The market isn’t closed. It’s just difficult.”

He’s right: It’s not closed—it’s slightly ajar. Activity has picked up a bit this year with nine US PE- and VC-backed IPOs so far, up from Q4 2022’s paltry five IPOs.

The full post is here.