Revealed: the IPO UK market winners

City firms have been cashing in on a bumper period of UK IPOs, with Linklaters & Alliance outstripping its magic circle rivals to work on flotations worth £17.2bn.

In the first The Lawyer IPO 2000 survey, Linklaters has emerged as the clear leader for UK IPO work by volume and value, for both the investment banks and issuers.

But a host of other firms have also cashed in on a high-profile 18 months in UK equity capital markets.

Allen & Overy, for example, has worked on deals with a total value of £4bn. It recently responded to the strong IPO market by establishing a dedicated equity capital markets unit (The Lawyer, 11 September).

Firms outside the magic circle have also benefited from the boom. Norton Rose worked on more than 10 floats for a range of investment banks, while Lovells has worked on only two (Egg and South African Breweries) but with a combined value of £4.6bn.

Much of the activity over the last 18 months can be put down to the launch of specialist technology market techMARK, as well as investors' love affair with new economy stocks.

Andrew Dauber, head of corporate broking at SG Securities, says that at the beginning of the period, technology, media and telecoms flotations represented around 60 per cent of the market.

Despite concerns about the future of dotcoms, Dauber remains confident that the market will continue to be lucrative for its advisers. "I think there will be quite a good IPO market again. Providing there is quality coming through, it will get funding," he says.

l The Lawyer IPO 2000, page 16