Global Companies Keen To List in the United States In First Half Of 2013: BNY Mellon Report

Global companies are returning to exchanges in the United States to raise public capital, with Asian companies leading the charge in the first half of 2013, according to a report from the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK), released Monday.

More than $3.6 billion in capital was raised through 20 initial public offerings, almost triple last year's level of about $1.25 billion. Companies from Asia-Pacific accounted for almost half of these, said the bank, raising $1.67 billion.

Chinese company Lightinthebox Holding Co. Ltd-ADR (NYSE:LITB), Russian firm Qiwi PLC (NASDAQ:QIWI) and Japanese company Ubic Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:UBIC) have all listed on U.S. exchanges in recent months.

Online retailer LightInTheBox was the first Chinese IPO done in the U.S. this year, completed in June. And UBIC, when it listed on NASDAQ in May, became the first Japanese company to raise capital in the U.S. since 2009.

BNY Mellon tracks depositary receipts, which allow U.S. investors to buy ordinary foreign shares on traditional U.S. exchanges.

Even as foreign companies are keen to return to the U.S., however, U.S. investors may be looking elsewhere for value for their money. North American investors, who are the world’s biggest holders of foreign depositary receipts, reduced their receipt holdings by 8.9 percent from last year, said BNY Mellon.

The report also highlighted regional trends. Investment in Mexican companies grew just as investment in Brazilian companies shrank. Japanese companies did the best for their investors, scoring highest on a BNY Mellon index tracking investment returns.

Commercial banking, oil and gas, and the mining industry were the most active industries for the trading of these depositary receipts, in that order.

“These initial public offerings may be seen as ‘green shoots’ for a recovery in emerging equities,” said Christopher Kearns, who leads BNY Mellon’s depositary receipts unit, in a statement.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP also said earlier in July that May saw the most domestic offerings since November 2007, in a sign of similar optimism from U.S. companies.