Renaissance year for IPOs, with new listings up 28% on average at debut

[NEW YORK] Twitter Inc and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc helped lead the best year for US initial public offerings since the financial crisis, with strong trading debuts likely to stoke investor demand for new shares in 2014.

Companies raised about US$22 billion in US IPOs in the fourth quarter, bringing the total for the year to US$56 billion, the most since 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sales in Europe and Asia also rose sharply, with global deals tripling from the prior three months.

Stock-market gains that lifted US benchmarks to records pushed investors to seek new opportunities, fuelling demand for IPOs, according to Sica Wealth Management LLC. The success of new listings - wit…