By Amit Verma, Senior Manager Listings, ASX
As the number of new listings rises, the market wants growth stories it can trust.
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) initial public offer (IPO) market is vibrant, after 92 new listings in 2025 delivered an average 24.2 per cent return, with more than twice the number of listings in the second half of the year versus the first. Many of these transactions were substantial, with domestic as well as offshore companies coming to the bourse.
With equities markets generally positive, the IPO market may continue to grow in 2026, unforeseen events notwithstanding. Certainly, the market is watching volatility, inflation expectations and the interest rate environment closely and this could impact timing for companies to IPO or pricing of transactions. Overall, Investors favour companies with sound fundamentals and underlying processes and prioritise opportunities with a superior growth narrative. The metals and mining IPO market is especially vibrant.
“The mining story is an interesting theme, if you look at commodity prices and the requirement to expand production or reinvest into developing more mines and capacity around that or M&A activity. That could drive more activity into the listing space. There has been great demand for capital from minerals, with about $12 billion raised from a total of $38 billion raised through listings last year,” says Sasha Conoplia, senior manager, listings ASX.
The market cycle means resources businesses coming to market may be of a particularly high calibre.
“We’ve seen a real turnaround. Last year, there were 11 metals and mining IPOs and so far, this year, there’s been 21, so the IPO market is coming back to life. The amount of capital raised per deal has also risen from an average of around $13 million per IPO in 2022 to $22 million per IPO now, reflecting better quality assets coming through,” says Liam Twigger, deputy chairman of integrated investment house, Argonaut.
Last year, Argonaut raised $30 million for Ballard Mining in July and $100 million for BMC Minerals in December. It is currently raising between $65 million and $70 million for Valiant Gold’s IPO, which should debut in March.
As the market expands, investors are more discerning, looking for projects with a clear path to production.
“Ideally, you’re coming to the market with a project that might have a million ounces in resource and a pathway through which investors can see that asset in production in, say, three years’ time,” says Twigger.
“Transactions that involve gold, copper, lithium and zinc are particularly appealing, among other commodities,” he says.
“We have a soft spot for nickel and we think that market will turn around, after being decimated by the massive increase in production that came out of Indonesia,” Twigger adds, noting ASX has led the world for the last five years in the money obtained for mining stocks and also for valuations. His advice for businesses thinking of approaching the bourse is to raise enough capital.
“If there’s more capital on offer, when you go to IPO or go to raise money, I’d take a little bit more rather than trying to be cute, thinking we’ll just raise enough, do some work, get some good news out and our share price will go up and we’ll raise more down the track. If it’s on offer now, I’d take it,” Twigger says.
While resources’ transactions have been hot, this has helped produce an IPO pipeline for other sectors.
“We have two biotech IPOs I’m quite confident will be on the board in the next few months,” says Nathan Lodge, managing director of capital management firm, Securities Vault. The business provided advice on the recent Eastern Gas IPO. Lodge agrees investors want value.
“So many companies come to market that have done raisings at eight cents or 15 cents. Investors are becoming more savvy and are looking to IPOs where there is very less free money involved. From our experience with Eastern, it was successful because everyone was in at the same price,” Lodge says.
Diversity in the IPO pipeline
Themes likely to drive future IPOs include AI and digital infrastructure and data centres, coupled with the energy transition and electrification. Sectors aside, investors want management skin in the game.
“The market is rewarding quality businesses that come to market with a clear growth strategy and people want to see shareholder alignment. Morgans has always been less worried about IPO windows, because good businesses with the right thematic and the right growth story can list in any market,” says Morgans Financial executive director, head of corporate advisory, Rob Douglas.
The market also wants to understand how raising capital and coming to market will generate future value.
“The IPO is the start of the journey. Companies that understand that, price the IPO appropriately and leave that upside and growth for incoming shareholders, set up the register and long-term value more than people anticipate,” Douglas says.
Overall, UBS Investment Bank managing director, Charlie Daish, says the IPO market is well balanced but investors are hungry for upside. UBS led tech business Megaport’s $200 million fully-underwritten equity raising to partly fund Megaport’s acquisition of digital platform Latitude.sh and India expansion.
“There is good investor support and vendors are increasingly progressed on their thinking towards IPOs. It comes down to business quality, the management team and the growth outlook for the business. If you come to market with a yield story on its own, that’s less interesting to the fund manager community. There’s going to be real estate trusts or other assets where yield is more relevant. But, whether the business is in the retail or industrial sectors, or a high-growth, tech-related sector, the market wants a clear growth strategy.”
Size matters, as does preparation.
“Founder businesses or small, private equity-owned businesses are often not really ready for listed life. But, if you do the early work as a private company on budgeting, process and governance frameworks, when you get to IPO, you can focus on what matters, which is investor engagement, clear disclosure and messaging, timing and the market,” says Daish.
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