Wall Street gloom spooks 8 firms with IPO plans

8/11/2011

Wall Street gloom spooks 8 firms with IPO plans

NEW YORK — Wall Street’s recent gloom is laying waste to the hopes of companies planning to raise money from investors. Of the 11 companies that had been slated to go public this week, eight have canceled their initial public offerings and one has slashed its deal size in order to get the transaction done.

For eight companies to have canceled their IPO plans for this week is “serious,” said longtime IPO researcher Scott Sweet, the owner of IPO Boutique. It sends a signal to other companies to wait.

Only one firm has gone public in August, after eight launched the last week of July. Two-thirds of the recent IPOs have declined since hitting the market, losing their investors money in this month’s market rout.