A veritable smorgasbord of companies are planning to list on the ASX in the coming year and could raise more than $11 billion.
Investment bankers will be salivating over the prospect of millions in advisory fees.
Australia's second-largest private hospital group, behind Ramsay Health Care (ASX: RHC), Healthscope is reported to have asked several investment banks to bid for a sales mandate role, according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR). Its IPO alone could be worth as much as $4 billion.
A flood of IPOs hit the ASX late in 2013, including the $2 billion listing of Nine Entertainment Co (ASX: NEC) and the $1 billion Pact Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: PGH). Other notable listings include Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN), OzForex Group Ltd (ASX: OFX) and Dick Smith Holdings (ASX: DSH).
Among the companies looking to come to market this year are:-
iSentia, Spotless Group, 3P Learning, Mantra Group, Stag Beef, Peters Ice Cream, Burson Auto Parts, Ozsale and Japara. All are in the process of applying for listing, while another group of companies are listed as possible candidates by the AFR. These include Energy Australia, Genworth Australia, Medibank Private, Link Market Services, Qantas Airways' (ASX: QAN) Frequent Flyer program and RetireAustralia.
But it's not only the newly listed companies that will have investment bankers burning the midnight oil. Several IPOs from last year, including Veda Group (ASX: VED) are still partially owned by their private equity sellers, and their holdings could be sold down when shares are released from escrow.
Foolish takeaway
We'll take a closer look at some of them as they get closer to listing, but investors need to remain on high alert. Some of the potential floats have had a number of false starts, which may mean investors need to read the prospectuses from cover to cover before putting up their hard earned.
