Bundle together the official announcements and the market chat, and the sharemarket looks set for nearly $900 million in local initial public offerings before year's end.
The flow is a dramatic increase on last year, when, excluding transtasman issues, four main IPOs - NZX, Postie Plus Group, 42 Below and the
biggie, Freightways - raised $187 million.
Two of the biggest local floats this year are due next month: children's wear retailer Pumpkin Patch and carpet company Feltex. Investment companies Colville Equities and StoreFund are also lined up for May.
The float of media company CanWest's New Zealand operations is expected in June.
A partial sell-down by the Canadian media company is expected to raise $200 million to $250 million.
Investment bankers say a host more candidates for IPOs - so far unnamed - are also waiting in the wings.
One of the smaller offers opens today as Mike Pero Mortgages seeks an initial $7 million and up to $3 million in oversubscriptions.
At organising broker Greenslades in Dunedin, managing director Roy Borgman said demand from sharebroking firms for allocations for the issue had far outstripped supply.
The Pero company is mainly owned by South Island investor George Gould.
