IPOs won't draw retail investors to the market

INITIAL public offerings (IPOs) are supposed to be offerings of shares to the general public by a company wishing get listed on an exchange, hence the name "initial public offering". However, some have said that recent IPOs are more like "initial private offerings", where only the privileged few are favourably blessed.

It is a fallacy to think that IPOs are money-printing instruments for those deemed "lucky" enough to lay their hands on such shares, either via placement though their remisiers or relationship managers (RMs), or via balloting through automated teller machines (ATMs).

Someone has said that people used to think that one could earn money through IPOs, and that if you got IPO shares, it was like tio beh pio or "striking horse lottery". There is no guarantee that an IPO will make money on the first or subsequent trading days, either now or in the recent past. It is foolhardy to think otherwise. Retail investors should never fall into this trap.