Companies’ $6 billion in global IPOs wake market after worst start since 2016

NEW YORK After a slow start to the year in IPO -land, things are finally starting to heat up.

Companies detailed plans to raise at least US$6 billion in global initial public offerings on Monday, more than two-thirds of the total announced previously this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Ride-hailing giant Lyft Inc. aims to raise as much as US$2.1 billion in its U.S. listing, while Italian payments firm Nexi SpA is targeting a Milan IPO of up to 2.7 billion euros (US$3.1 billion). Twelve other companies set terms for their offerings Monday, including Precision Biosciences Inc. and Tufin Software Technologies Ltd., the data show.

It’s one of the first signs that 2019 could yet live up to its billing as a bumper year for going public, particularly among technology firms.

Uber Technologies Inc. is set to follow smaller rival Lyft out the door in the second quarter, while office chat software maker Slack Technologies Inc. and food-delivery app Postmates Inc. are also considering listings.

Combined, those four companies could add more than US$150 billion of market cap to global indexes, based on their last private valuations or how much they’re expected to be valued at in an IPO.

As of Friday, just 22 U.S. IPOs had raised US$1.6 billion so far in the first quarter, the worst start since 2016.