The number of stock market listings worldwide slowed in the third quarter, although initial public offerings for the first nine months were at their highest level since the 2000 dotcom boom, according to new data.
Data from Refinitiv showed IPOs raised US$94.6bn globally in the third quarter, a drop of 26.3% from the second quarter.
Activity was dampened by extra restrictions imposed on Chinese flotations in the US, which came after China's crackdown on DiDi Global Inc just days after its New York listing.
In the year to date, a record US$421bn has been raised from over 2,000 IPOs, Reuters reported, more than double the sum raised in the same period last year.
The IPOs included 486 special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that went public in the first nine months of the year, raising US$127.7bn.
Among the high-profile IPOs in the third quarter was trading app Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD)'s US$2.1bn New York flotation.
The largest IPO so far this year is Tencent-backed Chinese online video company Kuaishou Technology Co Ltd's US$5.4bn offering.
After reaching a record US$12.8bn in the first seven months of this year, Chinese listing in the US stopped after U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler asked for a "pause" and sought more transparency about the company's offshore structures and regulatory risk they face in China.
Reuters cited David Ludwig, global head of equity capital markets at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) Group Inc, as saying that IPO activity in the fourth quarter could pick up.
"The backlog (of IPOs) across the street is very robust, across regions and sectors," he said.