Top IPO Market-Share Auditor Withum Anticipates Financial Sponsor-Backed Activity to Gain Traction


Q1 A Strong Start for Number of IPOs and Amount Raised

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The initial public offering (IPO) market continued its resurgence to begin 2018 and Withum is the leader in terms of IPO count and money raised by clients, with six IPO’s and approximately $1.5 billion in proceeds for the first quarter, among non-Big Four U.S. firms, according to Audit Analytics. The nationally ranked audit, tax and advisory firm was at the forefront of IPO audit activity  representing 53% of the total proceeds for non-Big Four U.S. firms.

“During this past quarter, we saw a strong start in terms of the number of special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) IPOs and the amount raised within this space, following a year in which financial sponsor-backed IPOs had the highest percentage by volume since the 2008 financial crisis,” said Withum’s SPAC Leader Jay C. Shepulski. “We expect the latest figures to be a foreshadowing of positive things to come at a time when activity is picking up for financial sponsor-backed IPOs.”

During the year ended December 31, 2017, Withum led the non-Big Four category with approximately $3.8 billion in IPO proceeds, the majority of which were sponsored by the private equity and venture capital community. The firm has been involved with over 50 special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), with deal sizes ranging from $50 million to more than $1 billion. Withum was the auditor of record for over $7 billion IPOs sponsored by the investment community during the last 24 months. This included the largest SPAC IPO since the global financial crisis, which raised $1 billion in trust proceeds.

Based in New York City, Withum’s Financial Services Group serves a diverse client base within the alternative investing industry, including private equity and venture capital funds, credit funds, hedge funds, fund of funds, investment advisors and regulated funds. An acknowledged thought leader in this niche, Withum is active in numerous industry associations and recently sponsored the 2018 SPAC Conference in New York City where Shepulski, along with Withum partners Mark Deters and Marc Silverman, served as speakers.


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