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Asian stock markets continued to surge in popularity in 2024, outperforming the languishing UK market in IPOs.
Throughout this year, Asia has dominated on stock exchange floats, with over 600 IPOs throughout the year, more than two thirds of the 867 floats globally in 2024, according to data from Globaldata.
In comparison, the UK market has had just a dozen IPOs throughout the year, with only six worth more than £30m.
“It is worth noting that the performance of some of these deals has been mixed, with a number trading below issue post pricing,” said Peel Hunt analysts.
The only IPO worth more than £1bn from the UK was Canal+, which has fallen more than 14 per cent since its IPO earlier this month.
Meanwhile, countries like India have seen their stock market take-in surge, with proceeds skyrocketing to $11.2bn (£9bn), more than doubling the $5.5bn (£4.4bn) raised in 2023.
“The pipeline for 2025 promises even bigger fireworks, fuelled by skyrocketing retail participation, hefty domestic inflows, and FPIs [Foreign Portfolio Investments] flexing their muscles,” said Murthy Grandhi, company profiles analyst at Globaldata.
In comparison, the value of deals on the UK IPO market declined about nine per cent this year according to Bloomberg data, pushing it down to just 20th in the world.
Looking at the rest of Asia, and in particular Asia Pacific (APAC) Japan and Malaysia also registered impressive growth, with Japan’s IPOs increasing 275 per cent, with 69 IPOs raising a total of $12.6bn (£10.1bn), while Malaysia recorded a 146 per cent rise.
However, Chinese IPOs dropped by more than half, thanks to tighter regulations and a lack of interest in its market until the last quarter of the year. The country saw the launch of 64 IPOs raising just over $5.2bn (£4.2bn).
The Asian markets are expected to continue their streak of strong performance into 2025, thanks to a robust pipeline of companies ready to make their splash on stock exchanges.
Significant IPOs include Tokyo Metro in Japan and Hyundai Motor in India, with deal values of $3.2bn (£2.6bn) and $3.3bn (£2.6bn) respectively, totalling vastly more than all floats on the UK market combined.