Upfront: U.S., Global Capital Markets Booming

If the U.S. capital markets are withering under the impact of tougher laws and regulations, their performance last year didn't show much evidence of it. U.S.-based companies raised $34.2 billion dollars in 186 IPOs in the first 11 months of 2006, blazing past the $29.9 billion mark for the same period in 2005, according to research from Ernst & Young LLP. The median deal size was $96 million, up 9 percent from 2005.

"U.S. issuers continue to find an eager and receptive marketplace among investors for IPOs," notes Maria Pinelli, Americas director, strategic growth markets, at Ernst & Young in New York City. "Deal activity in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2006 was especially strong and consistent with the equity markets crossing all-time highs."

2006 was a strong year in the global capital markets, too, with IPO activity hitting a record high of $227 billion. In January 2007 Ernst & Young released an analysis of global capital market trends co-authored by Pinelli and Joseph A. Muscat, Americas director, venture capital advisory group, in Palo Alto, Calif. The report noted that 90 percent of companies worldwide choose to go public in their home country. In the first half of 2006, only 77 of the 767 companies that went public chose to conduct their IPO abroad.