Income trusts accounted for more than $1.8 billion of the $2.7 billion in initial public offerings completed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the first six months of 2005, PricewaterhouseCoopers said today.

The growing popularity of income trusts has moved them into the broader market, including such sectors as consumer and industrial products, financial services and communications, PwC says in its twice-per-year IPO survey.

“Income trusts have emerged as a preferred structure for IPOs,” says Ross Sinclair, national leader for PwC’s IPO and income trust services.

“Previously, trusts tended to be large and built on a high profile asset such as the Yellow Pages IPO that raised almost a billion dollars in 2003. Today, however, IPOs are being structured as income trusts across the entire spectrum of the market.”

During the January-June 2005 period, 34 IPOs were issued on the TSX, two more than in the same period last year. The total gross value of those IPOs was down slightly, however, sliding 2% from 2004 to $2.59 billion

“Across the board, it’s shaping up as a very good year for the IPO market,” Sinclair says. “We haven’t seen any records set so far, but we are on track for a vibrant IPO market in 2005.”

The consumer products sector accounted for the largest number and value of IPOs through the first half of 2005, with nine offerings valued at $750 million.

Only the utilities sector had no IPO activity during the period.