April IPO Filings Highest Since ’07, Renaissance Says

Monthly filings for U.S. initial public offerings in April are at the highest in more than three years as companies including Jiayuan.com International Ltd. and BrightSource Energy Inc. seek to raise capital, Renaissance Capital LLC said.

New filings for U.S. IPOs total 31 so far this month, the most since 40 companies registered to go public with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2007, Renaissance, an IPO investment firm, said on its website today.

Jiayuan, a Chinese online-dating company, and Renren Inc., the country’s largest social-networking service, announced plans for U.S. IPOs after shares of Beijing-based Qihoo 360 Technology Co., the Beijing-based provider of Web browsers, more than doubled following a March 29 offering. Through yesterday, Zipcar Inc.’s shares had climbed more than 50 percent since the car- sharing service’s April 13 IPO, making it this month’s best- performing U.S. offering.

“A combination of broader market improvement coupled with recent successful IPOs has inspired other companies in the pipeline to be more active in terms of going public,” said Stephanie Chang, an analyst at Greenwich, Connecticut-based Renaissance. “A lot of the companies that have filed recently are somewhat similar to the ones we’ve seen that were successful.”

BrightSource, Vanguard

Almost half of this month’s new filings have happened in the past week, and 21 completed IPOs in April have raised a total of $5.6 billion, Renaissance Capital said. The data exclude filings by special-purpose acquisition companies, closed-end funds and trusts.

BrightSource, an Oakland, California-based solar-power equipment maker, will attempt to raise $250 million to fund working capital, it said in an April 22 filing with the SEC. It’s one of at least 14 companies that have filed for U.S. IPOs since April 20 attempting to raise as much as $2.5 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Earlier this month, Vanguard Health Systems Inc. said it plans a $600 million IPO. The Nashville, Tennessee-based hospital operator would come to the public market after HCA Inc. raised $4.35 billion in its March 9 initial offering including an overallotment option. HCA’s shares have gained 6.7 percent.

The 31 filings so far this month topped the total of 29 in April 2010, Renaissance’s data show. Companies have filed for 82 U.S. IPOs so far this year, compared with a total of 83 in the first four months of last year.