The Liberty Mutual insurance company has announced that it has postponed its planned IPO, which would have been by far the largest initial public offering in the U.S. this year; the company was seeking to sell $1.3 billion worth of stock. Liberty Mutual cited the sluggish economic recovery and weak stock market as its reasons.
The IPO market as a whole has been underperforming this year; at least 45 companies have announced IPOs only to withdraw or postpone them. The biggest IPO this year has been for the little-known oil company Oasis Petroleum, which raised $676 million for its offering back in June. By contrast, back in the crazy days of the Internet IPOs, Priceline.com was briefly worth $10 billion on its first day on the market.
There's still hope for a huge IPO this year: General Motors is planning to take itself public again in November. The word is that the car manufacturer will seek to raise $8 to $10 billion in that stock offering. Its success or failure will probably prove to be an important signpost for this economic recovery.
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