IPO Window Re-Opens for Business

For all the talk of jitters among stock investors, you wouldn’t know it from the initial public offering market.

This week is on tap to match the busiest in more than 18 months for such deals, with 13 U.S.-listed IPOs scheduled between now and Friday. If all the deals come to market, that would mark the busiest week for IPOs since the first week of 2013, according to Dealogic.

All told, this week's deals are expected to raise about $2.9 billion, the most for any week since mid-May, when JD.com Inc.'s $2 billion debut tipped the scales.

The market for IPOs slowed after the bloodbath among shares of fast-growing but richly valued technology and healthcare shares earlier this spring. But with stocks grinding out new highs in recent weeks, investors seem willing to take on untested shares.

In addition, some of the rush of activity has to do with the calendar. The timeframe between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July is seen as an open window for IPO activity, with few holidays or corporate earnings reports competing for money managers' attention.

Among the most-anticipated deals will be that of Markit Ltd., the financial data provider whose debut Wednesday evening is expected to raise up to $1.1 billion for existing holders, which include a slate of Wall Street banks.

It's also shaping up to be another active week for oil-and-gas IPOs. Eclipse Resources Corp., which drills for gas in the so-called Utica shale formation beneath Ohio, has an IPO on deck for Thursday expected to raise up to $909 million.

Eight healthcare IPOs are expected to price, each raising less than $100 million, according to Dealogic. The return of these deals from early-stage healthcare companies marks another sign of stabilization after a selloff in biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals stocks earlier this spring.

The deal flow has already started to warm up. Last week, saw $10.8 billion worth of equity capital markets volume—which includes IPOs, follow-on offerings and convertible bond sales—the most since the week of Dec. 9, according to Dealogic.