Talk of IPO slowdown unsettles City of London

LONDON - The London Stock Exchange signalled yesterday that an ebullient market for initial public offerings may be running out of steam, days after four banks failed to get away a float of the Hogg Robinson travel business.

Quarterly figures from the LSE showed that the number of new issues on the main market fell to 33 during the five months to the end of August from 46 over the same period last year.

On the Alternative Investment Market, 177 companies sold shares for the first time, 28 per cent fewer than in those five months in 2005.

The data prompted some City experts, including Katrina Preston at stockbroker Bridgewell Securities, to suggest that the London IPO market may have seen its best days, for the time being at least. "We expect the primary market is at, or close to, a cyclical peak," she told clients.

London has reaped the benefit of stifling American regulation, ushered in to protect investors in the post-Enron world.

Companies that would otherwise have looked to New York to raise money, have instead come to London to tap into its concentration of expertise, cheaper listing costs and wash of funds looking for a home.

The number of new issues in London may be on the wane, but their value doubled during the period to £24 billion ($69 billion).

- INDEPENDENT