Australia and New Zealand mount IPO drive Meridian Energy rose 8 per cent on its debut, becoming the second large successful privatisation of the year in New Zealand and marking a return to form for new listings in Antipodean markets. Australia and New Zealand have seen initial public offerings dry up almost entirely since the financial crisis in 2008, but a flurry of activity this year - including Meridian's NZ$1.6bn share sale - is putting them on track for their best year since 2007, according to bankers. Nine Entertainment is the next big name up in Australia, which would be the biggest IPO of the year if it meets the A$1.7bn-A$2.2bn valuation expected by analysts. But bankers say there are between eight and 12 more deals likely to hit the market before the year ends. The total for the year could hit A$6bn for Australia alone, according to a senior equity banker in Sydney. The volume of IPOs in both markets has been running at just $1.3bn-$2.3bn per year since 2007, according to Dealogic, although two very large deals in Australia in 2010, which raised $6bn between them, pushed that year to the highest recent total of $7.4bn. This year's rush of sales has lifted the two markets to their highest year-to-date volume on record with a combined $5.8bn, driven by New Zealand's privatisation programme. "We've seen more deals in the past three months than in the past three years," said one senior Australian banker. Pent-up supply is meeting pent-up demand, simple as that. New Zealand has seen its three biggest IPOs ever all come this year. Meridian, the most recent, is also the largest at $1.6bn and just overtook Mighty River Power, another power privatisation, which raised $1.4bn in May. New Zealand fuel company Z Energy's $677m deal, also this year, is the third biggest in the country's history. We've seen more deals in the past three months than in the past three years senior Australian banker Mike Neal, a senior capital markets banker at Commonwealth Bank, told a conference in Sydney last week that the countries could see up to 12 more deals as business confidence hits its highest levels since April 2010. There are a string of smaller deals set to follow Nine Entertainment, which is mostly owned by a group of hedge funds after its financing was restructured last year leaving CVC, the private equity firm that bought the company in a leveraged buyout, with nothing. Nine is due to start marketing its sale next week and should price in early December, according to bankers. GDI Property and Industria, two property managers; Pact Group, a packaging provider; and Vocation, an education business, are among the deals expected to come to market before the year ends.