By Freya Berry
LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - Global initial public offerings(IPOs) almost doubled in value in the first quarter of 2014,Thomson Reuters data showed on Monday, with Europe leading theway thanks to a nascent economic recovery that lifted investors'confidence and stock markets.
The value of all global IPOs hit $44.3 billion in the firstthree months of this year, the best first quarter since 2011,and the value of European IPOs soared 191 percent to hit $15.2billion - the highest since 2000.
"There have been some fantastic deals," said MartinThorneycroft, head of syndicate at Morgan Stanley. "Coming intothis year the pipeline was busy and it's continued to build asinvestor demand remains robust."
The pan-European FTSEuroFirst 300 Index rose 16percent last year and has gained 1.2 percent so far in 2014, anattractive environment for the many firms that have waited outthe recent recession to list. Senior bankers said the IPOactivity was well spread across Europe, including the regionsmost affected by the financial crisis.
"On a pan-European basis we are seeing flows into southernEurope, starting from Spain but also Portugal, Italy and Greece.It's across sectors," said Klaus Hessberger, co-head of EMEAequity capital markets (ECM) at JP Morgan.
Spain in particular has seen a rise in confidence.
The flotations of real estate investment trusts Grupo Lar and Hispania demonstrated a turnaround insentiment for a sector that lay at the heart of the country'sdebt crisis - Hispania attracted investment from fund superstarsGeorge Soros and John Paulson.
The IPO of travel company eDreams Odigeo inApril will be Spain's first corporate listing since Bankia in 2011.
Market watchers say momentum is feeding morale.
"When the equity markets get working people start trustingeach other," said Kate Ball-Dodd, a partner at law firm MayerBrown who advises on M&A and IPOs. "There is an understandingthat it's OK to exit."
Goldman Sachs led the global ECM rankings by value,with 82 deals totalling $18.6 billion, followed by MorganStanley with 92 deals totalling $14.3 billion.
CHINA, USA MORE CAUTIOUS
IPO activity also jumped in Asia - the value of deals theremore than tripled to $13.1 billion in the first quarter of 2014- but concerns about mainland China's slower economic growthkept a lid on activity and prompted some disappointing debuts.
Two companies delayed their Hong Kong IPOs this month, whileChinese commercial lender Harbin Bank Co Ltd is toprice near the bottom of its marketing range.
The outlook for Japan has also dimmed, with investorsshunning Tokyo stocks as attempts to reinvigorate the economylose momentum. The Nikkei is down 9.8 percent this year.
The $3.2 billion float of Japan Display - thebiggest global listing of the year so far - flopped, casting ashadow over April's forthcoming $1.8 billion debut by SeibuHoldings.
Investors in the United States, where both the economy andconsumer sentiment cooled at the beginning at the year, havealso proceeded with more caution.
U.S. proceeds from IPOs rose by 11 percent against the firstquarter of 2013, but the country's share of the global IPOmarket shrank to 22 percent from 31 percent last year.
Last week Candy Crush maker King was the latesttech company to launch a listing. But the games developer made aless than majestic entry onto the New York Stock Exchange,losing as much as 15 percent in its first day oftrading.
(Editing by Sophie Walker)