Emerging market IPOs turn hot investor picks

NEW YORK: Initial public offerings in emerging nations are returning about 15 times more than IPOs in developed countries even as companies from China to Brazil flood the market with more shares than ever.

Listings by Longfor Properties Co, Banco Santander (Brasil) SA and Kuala Lumpur-based Maxis Bhd helped raise $39 billion in emerging markets during the three months ending on Monday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That outstrips the amount sold in IPOs from 23 industrialized nations by $21.3 billion, the biggest gap since at least 2000, the data show.

While IPOs in developing markets rose 21 percent and offerings in the Chinese mainland rallied 88 percent in the past three months, the "avalanche" of sales may help spur a 20 percent drop in share prices, according to Mark Mobius.