There’s some good news for capital markets lawyers: 2022 is over.

It was a dismal 12 months for US initial public offerings, which raised just more than $18 billion last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s down more than 95% from the record $275 billion raised in 2021, propelled by a boom in blank-check companies that have since fallen off the map.

Some Big Law practitioners are cautiously optimistic that the market will thaw this year, but nobody’s expecting a return to the boom times. Companies considering a public offering are still grappling with an unpredictable market as the US Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates to tamp down inflation.

“It will probably take some of the bigger named companies that have stronger financials and profitability to return to the market as the first movers, and hopefully that will open up the market and others will follow,” said Marcel Fausten, a New York capital markets partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell.

The biggest law firm winners from the 2021 IPO boom suffered a similar fate last year—huge declines.

Only two firms who placed in the top 10 advising issuers or underwriters in 2021 had a less than a 90% decline in deal value last year. Weil Gotshal & Manges, experienced an 88% drop in issuer-side work from 2021 to 2022. Ellenoff Grossman, which focuses on...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5ibG9vbWJlc...