Initial Public Offerings in Canada more than doubled in the first half of this year, to levels not seen since the technology bubble of 2000. Market interest in income trusts, however, continued to slip.

According to the annual six-month survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, investors bought IPOs in every sector of the economy except forestry, which like the year before, had no activity in the first half of the year.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said 47 IPOs were completed during the first and second quarters of this year for a total value of $2.7 billion. The pace of IPOs so far is an increase of 113.6% over the 22 offerings introduced in the first half of 2003, worth $1.5 billion.

The mining sector was the most active, with 15 IPOs worth $514.0 million, followed by products (with eight IPOs worth $471.7 million), technology and media third (six IPOs worth $279.5 million) and financial services fourth (six IPOs worth $248.0 million).

“It is interesting to note that in the face of growth in the total number of IPOs so far this year, market activity for income trusts continues to decline,” Eric Slavens, IPO services leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Canada, said in a release. “This confirms a trend we identified in our yearend IPO survey for 2003.

“While the gross value of income trusts for both years was about the same for the first two quarters at just over a billion dollars, less than 22% of total IPO activity this year was income trusts. This compares to 2003 when almost half of IPOs in the same period was income trusts. Investors’ return to more traditional corporate offerings this year is
even more evident when compared to 2002. In the first half of that year, about 55% of the number of IPOs was income trusts, worth more than $2.1 billion – or over 94% of the total value of the IPO market.”