Top Five IPOs Of The World
With Alibaba’s initial public offering (IPO) set to hit the Wall Street, it is likely to become the largest IPO ever valuing the company at around USD 180 billion as compared to Amazon which is valued at USD 150 billion. Priced at USD 68/share, Alibaba is expected to raise USD 21.8 billion from this IPO. We give you the world’s five largest IPO’s.
1. Agriculture Bank of China:
Started by Mao Zedong to assist rural farmers, Agriculture Bank of China, one of the top three banks in China, priced at 2.68 Yuan per share, raised USD 19.2 billion in July’2010 to become one of the biggest IPO’s in the world, before Alibaba’s IPO. Although there were few concerns because of Chinese economy’s fragility at that time, still, the IPO was successful and sailed through the concerns of the investors. In July’2010; after its listing on Shanghai it was larger than Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, valued at USD 128 billion.
2. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China:
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s IPO was the second largest IPO in the world raising USD 19.1 billion from the markets. Valued at USD 140 billion, the bank became the fifth largest bank in the world. The bank had a strong customer base of 153 million retail clients when the IPO was launched. Instead of introducing a limited number of shares at a high price, the bank created 48.39 billion shares at about 39 cents per share. Demand for futures contracts (an agreement to buy or sell shares on a future date) for the shares topped USD 500 billion, which would have made it twice as valuable as Citigroup, the largest bank in the world at the time.
3. NTT Mobile Communications Network:
NTT Mobile Communications Network was the world’s third largest IPO. Listed on Nekkei 225 in October 1998, its size was USD 18.38 billion. It helped revive the market and it is evident from the fact that the market rose 1300 points after its listing. In 1986 NTT’s parent Nippon Telephone & Telegraph Company had managed to raise more than USD 13 billion during its own IPO.
4. Visa:
Visa Card was first issued in 1977 by a consortium of banks and became Visa International ever since. However it was only after 31 years; in 2008 that the company went public in one of the most difficult situations of the global economic crises the world ever saw. Despite this it managed to raise USD 17.9 billion, priced at USD 42 per share, making it the world’s fourth largest IPO. The biggest reason for Visa’s IPO success was that of its immense growth potential abroad.
5. Enel SpA:
A slightly obscure company Enel SpA, an Italian company engaged into the business of energy production is the second largest energy company in the Europe area having a customer base of 60.5 million customers. It invests into hydroelectric energy, geothermal, wind, and biomass power production. Despite this fact, investors overwhelmingly subscribed to the IPO of Enel SpA. It managed to raise USD16.58 billion by listing on the FTSE MIB index. It also represented 10% of the value of Milan-30 blue chip fund business index.