IPO Statistics

Record cuts

Six questions real investors ask. Six answers from 274 real IPOs, not from anyone's memory. Two terms run through this report: the open premium is the day-one opening price against the IPO price (the Day 1 open % column in the full record), and the positive rate is the share of IPOs in a group whose return is above zero.

1 · The yearly cycle: this market moves in cycles, not lines

The distance between the best year (2023, median open +40.0%) and the weakest (2026, +1.0%) shows how far one year can sit from another. Watch the n column too: a year with few IPOs is moved by a handful of listings, and the current year is not complete.

Band = that year's P25 to P75 range; the gold tick is the median. Click any year to filter The record table to it.

Bottom line: a single year's average is not the market; the cycle is.

2 · Demand vs premium: in the recent era, ringgit tracks it more closely than multiples

The figure quoted most often is the subscription multiple, "42 times oversubscribed" for example. It is only half the story: two IPOs with near-identical multiples can carry very different RM demand, because their offer sizes differ. SKYECHIP at 95.03x carried RM 3.00 B of demand; L&PBHD at 36.14x carried only RM 260.2 M. RM demand accounts for that size: multiple × offer price × public-tranche shares. Because the multiple is part of that formula, the two measures are not independent of each other.

Oversubscription vs open premium

RM demand vs open premium

Every dot is a real IPO; click to open its page.

Bottom line: in the recent era, the size of demand in ringgit tracks the open premium more closely than how many times the offer was subscribed.

3 · Price & company size: where the open premium peaks, and where it flattens

Do cheaper IPOs jump more often on day one? The record does not support an answer that simple. The RM0.20-0.40 band holds the highest median open (+17.9%), the < RM0.20 band the lowest (+0.0%), and the cheapest band is not necessarily the best. The table below has the full count for every band.

Company size

On day one, the smallest market-cap quintile holds a median open of +25.0% and the largest +1.6%. After that the order changes: for IPOs listed at least a year, the median since listing is -14.3% for the smallest quintile and +0.5% for the largest. A big open premium does not necessarily last.

Bottom line: the RM0.20-0.40 band and the smallest quintile hold the highest open premiums, but the day-one order does not necessarily hold after a year.

4 · Offer structure: who brings the deal, and for whom

MITI × board

IPOs with a MITI tranche post a much lower median open. The gap is not just a board effect: within the same ACE board, MITI +4.3% (n=139) against non-MITI +46.8% (n=78). Day one is not the whole story either. On the Main Market, for IPOs listed at least a year, the median since listing is +0.5% for MITI IPOs against -25.1% without MITI.

By sector

The sector with the most IPOs is not the sector that pays the most. Since 2020, Industrial Products & Services arrives on the board most often (n=82) with a median of +13.0%, while Technology (n=29) holds the highest median, +55.6%. Frequent and lucrative are two different things.

By principal adviser

The company name draws the attention; the adviser's name on the prospectus cover rarely gets read. The record says it should: the most frequent adviser, M & A Securities Sdn Bhd (n=75), posts a median day-one close of +11.9%. Among advisers with at least 10 deals, the highest median belongs to UOB Kay Hian (M) Sdn Bhd (n=11), +69.0%. Small samples can produce extreme medians, so read the deal count beside each median.

Bottom line: the day-one MITI gap holds within the same board, but not necessarily after a year; the most frequent sector is not the most lucrative; and different advisers carry different records.

5 · Exit paths: day one carries the median

This section compares three exit paths: sell at the open, sell at the day-one close, or hold to today. Only IPOs listed at least a year count (215 listings), so every hold is at least 12 months. The median sell-at-open is +17.2%, the median hold -5.6%, and only 35% now trade above their day-one opening price. Holding periods in this sample still differ, so the hold figure is a rough picture, not a return over one fixed period.

Bottom line: only 35% of IPOs now trade above their first-day open; on the latest data, the record sides with the first morning.

6 · Four groups in the record: the full spread, worst case included

The last section cuts the record into four simple groups and shows each one's full spread: median, middle range, positive rate and worst case. Every row is a record of past IPOs, not a rule to follow. The worst case sits in the last column so no median is read on its own.

Historical records of groups of past IPOs, computed over the whole record. Not a guarantee and not advice; the worst case is always shown. A note on timing: a group defined by oversubscription can only be known after the ballot result is announced, because that figure does not exist when applications are made.

Right = lighter worst case; up = higher median. Each group's position shows the trade-off between its median and its worst case.

Bottom line: the worst case is part of the record, not a footnote.

7 · Methodology & data notes