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A number of upcoming US initial public offerings, including $15bn fintech Klarna and $50bn medtech company Medline, have been postponed as Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs roil global financial markets, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Buy now, pay later” company Klarna, private equity-backed surgical products company Medline and ticket company StubHub intended to go public but those plans have now been put on hold due to market turbulence, according to people familiar with the matter. All the companies had confidentially filed plans to list shares in recent months.
Once a company publicly files their IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, they put themselves on a footing to launch an investor roadshow after 15 days. Klarna was planning to publicly launch its $15bn listing next week, while Medline, which is backed by Blackstone and Carlyle, planned to file publicly earlier this week, aiming at a valuation of approaching $50bn, but both listings have now been delayed indefinitely.
Ticketing company StubHub and virtual physical therapy company Hinge Health publicly filed their paperwork last month and were planning to start their investor roadshows early in April, but were now holding off before starting talks with potential investors, sources said. The companies were under no obligation to float within a specific timeframe and the listing could still happen in the weeks ahead, the people added.
The US IPO market had begun to show some signs of life in recent weeks following a three-year dry spell induced by higher interest rates, with data centre operator CoreWeave earlier this month tabling the biggest tech offering since Arm Holdings in 2023.
But market volatility unleashed by Trump’s tariffs announcement has knocked equity markets and forced many companies that were hoping to go public to hold off. That marks a stark turnaround from the start of the year, when many bankers had said they expected the IPO market to boom under an ostensibly pro-business Republican administration.
Global markets have plunged since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on US trade partners this week. The losses were extended on Friday as China announced retaliatory measures and investors took fright at the prospect of a full-blown global trade war.
After Beijing’s announcement, the S&P 500 was down 4.2 per cent and the Europe-wide Stoxx 600 fell 5.1 per cent.
Klarna declined to comment. Medline, Hinge Health and StubHub did not immediately respond to request comments.
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