London, United Kingdom, Thursday — No fewer than 29 countries -
including Brazil, Egypt, Greece, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia,
Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the UAE - each hosted more than
1 billion dollar worth of IPOs last year, marking a
globalization trend set to continue through 2006, according to
Accelerating Growth, the third annual Global IPO Report released today
by leading professional services provider Ernst & Young.

IPO activity continues to reflect the shifting landscape of the world
economy with a significant increase in the emerging markets.

While a key trend in 2005 was an increase in IPOs in China, Israel,
Russia, and Poland, the outlook for 2006 shows an increased interest
in markets including the Middle East, South Korea, India and Brazil.

“For many large investors, a global strategy that does not include
China, India, and Russia has become a contradiction in terms,” Gregory
K. Ericksen, Global Vice Chair of Strategic Growth Markets at Ernst &
Young, said. “However, the landscape is continuing to widen and we now
see a healthy pipeline of IPO candidates waiting in the wings in
markets around the world. A wide global spread of IPO activity, a mix
of types of offering - both privatizations and new ventures, energetic
growth in emerging markets, and vigorous competition for new business
by the world’s stock exchanges all bode well for the IPO supply in
2006.”

“Part of the rich IPO environment is diverse stock market and
regulatory regimes, with the established highly regulated markets of
the US, Western Europe, and Japan at one extreme and infant exchanges
in some emerging markets at the other,” Ericksen said. “Today’s IPO
model has developed a number of variants - there is no longer just one
game to play. Several factors are playing a part here, all consistent
with the increasing sophistication and maturity of investors and
capital markets generally.”

– Capital raised around the world rose by one-third to hit $167
billion, the highest level since 2000, while deal numbers remained
steady at 1,537, compared to 1,516 in 2004.

– 2005 was a watershed year for IPO activity in the Middle East and
Africa: soaring liquidity from oil revenues contributed to many big
ticket IPOs raising more than $500 million each in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, Lebanon and Egypt. The UAE alone
saw issues worth $1.9 billion compared to just $0.5 billion in 2004.

– In the next few years, assuming the necessary political stability,
the Middle East is likely to become an important source of IPO
activity as oil revenues are recycled into the local economy.

– Asia continues to be a hotbed of activity. Towed along by mainland
China and Hong Kong’s continuing strength, other economies in the area
displayed vigorous IPO activity, notably Malaysia, Taiwan, South
Korea, and India.

– One of the three biggest deals to date this year was Lotte, the
South Korean Department Store, which raised $3.5 billion when it
dual-listed in London and Seoul.

– India has evoked lively investor interest and will continue to do
so. While the amounts raised fell from $2.9 billion to $2.3 billion in
2005, reflecting fewer privatizations, numbers of transactions surged
from 21 to 53.

– Many Indian IPOs have been oversubscribed 20 to 30 times in markets
that have been scaling record levels. Following Jet Airways’
successful launch — one of the most successful Indian IPOs of recent
times — a number of state-run airlines are poised to float in the
near future.

– In Latin America, Brazil saw an increase in both the amount of
capital raised - up 48% to $1.8 billion, and the number of
transactions - up 20% on the previous year. Brazilian companies
currently account for one-third of all Latin American listings on the
New York Stock Exchange.