On companies going private.

• Author: Rees, Matthew
• Position: Global market/economic trends - Brief article

"The value of companies taken private reached record levels in 2006, with New York and London's stock markets taking the brunt of the $150 billion (77 billion [pounds sterling]) of de-equitization, according to figures from Thomson Financial. But new listings, especially from Russia and China, meant that the total capital raised on world markets outstripped that by more than $100 billion."

"The value of companies taken private has almost trebled since 2004. The New York Stock Exchange saw a net withdrawal of listed capital of $38.8 billion after so-called public-to-private transactions--where listed companies are bought out by private equity investors--are taken into account. Nasdaq suffered a net withdrawal of $11 billion--almost twice its loss through de-equitization in 2005. Initial public offerings of U.S. companies, at $41 billion, were less than half the nearly...