M&A deals now the only way for shipping companies to go public

Is merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activity the new way to get an initial public offering (IPO) done in shipping?

Considering that no one in the sector has been able to complete an IPO in the conventional way in the past two years, the M&A option may be the only game in town.

“We can spend a lot of time on M&A activity that will never materialise into fees if a deal isn’t done, but to me that is the IPO market right now — IPO through M&A,” said Jefferies senior vice-president of maritime investment banking Todd Wilson at the annual Marine Money Week conference in New York last week.