Huh. Did you know there were 62 initial public offerings this past quarter? I didn’t. Then again, IPOs aren’t at the top of my “must keep track of” list with everything else going on in the world right now. But now that Audit Analytics has released its latest analysis on Q2 IPO auditor market share, knowing which firm(s) audited the most IPOs is on my “must keep track of” list.
I wrote “firm(s)” because there was a four-way tie for first place in Q1: PwC, Marcum, Withum, and KPMG each audited seven of the 37 IPOs, with P. Dubs’ clients raising the most in proceeds at $2.1 billion.
In Q2, the Big 4 firms audited a combined 30 of the 62 IPOs—which includes 23 that were blank check companies, defined by Audit Analytics as “a company that has no established business plan or operations and can serve as a vessel to engage in a merger or acquisition with an unidentified company, entity, or other person”—or 48.3% of the IPO market.
The IPO that racked up the most proceeds in the second quarter was Royalty Pharma, which raised $2.18 billion—the year’s largest IPO to date. (Audit Analytics said it was unable to verify Royalty Pharma’s auditor; however, according to Renaissance Capital’s report on the most active audit firms of Q2, EY was the audit firm of record for RP’s IPO.)
But it wasn’t a Big 4 firm that led in IPO count in Q2, according to this chart from Audit Analytics:
And Marcum couldn’t help itself from sending out a self-congratulatory press release today:
But if you take out the 23 blank check company IPOs, Marcum is nowhere to be found, while EY, PwC, and Deloitte move into first, second, and third place, respectively.
Q2 2020 IPOs: Auditor Market Share and Stats [Audit Analytics]
Related article:
Which Firm Had the Most IPO Audit Clients In Q1 2020?
