The Just-in-Time IPO

The value and number of IPOs that started trading this year have plunged compared with the same period in previous years.

- Lulu Yilun, Cathy Chan and Julia Fioretti

Fig. 1 To see companies that went public this year, run {IPO } and click on the Advanced Search button. Click Date Range and select Year-to-Date. Tick the box for Trading Date, then click Update. Click on Offer Type, select Initial Public Offering, and click Update. Click Result.

WHEN MA CUNJUN strapped on his face mask and boarded a nearly empty flight to New York from Hong Kong, the most important deal of his life was at risk of unraveling.

It was Jan. 29, and in less than two weeks Ma was supposed to take his Shenzhen, China-based online insurance platform public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York. Preparations for Huize Holding Ltd.’s initial public offering, which in September had targeted $150 million, had been in the works since 2018. But now China’s coronavirus outbreak was bringing Asia’s largest economy to its knees and threatening to cause havoc around the world. Ma, 48, had to decide whether to push ahead.

His bankers were offering conflicting advice. Morgan Stanley was suggesting a delay, arguing Ma’s company should wait to report a full year of earnings. Shortly after the founder and chief executive officer arrived in New York, Chinese share prices suffered their biggest one-day tumble in almost five years. But Citigroup Inc. was saying the window for a deal was still open—if Ma was willing to raise less money, cut the valuation, and move quickly.