Regional and global initial public offering activity continues to stall, according to Ernst & Young's first quarter Global IPO update 2009. Compared to a total of $3.98 billion raised through 13 IPOs in the first quarter of 2008, only $83.6 million was raised through two IPOs in the same period of 2009 in the Middle East. This constitutes 2.1 per cent of the Q1 2008 figure, in terms of total capital raised. Saudi Arabia's Etihad Atheeb Telecommunications Company, which raised $80 million and listed on the Riyadh Stock Exchange, was the largest IPO in the Middle East during this period. It was ranked third in terms of capital raised amongst a total of 50 IPOs worldwide, all of which raised around $1.4 billion, the report said. A Syrian firm, Al Adham Foreign Exchange Company, was the only other regional IPO in Q1 2009. It raised $3.62 million and listed on the Damascus Stock Exchange. Mead Johnson Nutrition, which raised $828 million on the New York Stock Exchange, the Chinese company Real Gold Mining Ltd., which raised $133.01 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Etihad Atheeb Telecommunications Company were the three largest IPOs globally and accounted for 75 per cent of the capital raised during the first quarter of this year. Commenting on the issue, Azhar Zafar, the head of mergers and acquisitions of Ernst & Young Middle East, said: “The deal threshold required to make the top 20 global IPO list has fallen significantly over the past year – $6.84 million in Q1 2009 compared to $126.9 million in Q1 2008.” “The difference between the threshold values for the top 10 is even more marked, falling from $416.5 million in Q1 2008 to $10.11 million in Q1 2009.''
