IFLR awards interview: Maurice Blanco of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and its lawyers were shortlisted for 41 awards at the IFLR Americas Awards 2026, where you won Partner of the Year – Debt and Equity-linked and Partner of the Year – Equity. What were the key factors behind that success?

Davis Polk benefits from having breadth across practice areas and jurisdictions. We may not be the biggest team, but we are in all the major financial markets around the world. Whether you’re looking at our capital markets practice, our restructuring practice, our sponsored finance practice, or our regular finance practice, across the board, we have a very strong capability both in the US and outside of the US, which I think makes us pretty uniquely positioned to excel and to represent our clients on a variety of their financings.

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) statistics released in September 2026 reported a total of 208 IPOs in H1 2026, raising more than $137 billion, compared with 180 IPOs and more than $27 billion in H1 2025. What drove that activity, and is the momentum continuing?

I would say it’s been a great year until recently. The market was very strong across issuers, across geographies, across industries, with a focus on certain industries that had a lot of deals, particularly tech, anything AI-related, healthcare, etc. A lot of transactions in a strong market. Recently, however, I think things have started to slow down. And while we have a tremendous pipeline of deals that are ready to go – probably the largest pipeline that we’ve seen in many, many years – things have certainly got quieter as the market performance for certain companies that have gone public has not [gone] as well as people thought or valuations aren’t exactly where people would have wanted.

How a company trades post-IPO is a direct signal for the companies that are in line next, particularly in the same sector. So if a company hasn’t traded well, it’s not a good thing for the companies that are next in line because they either have to distinguish themselves or they have to wait until the company who hasn’t traded well stabilises and investors have a better sense of where that company’s value lies.

There’s also right now a large transaction that is taking up a lot of headline space and investor attention. Until that large transaction clears the market, I think it’s going to be quieter for many of the other smaller companies that would have wanted to go ahead.

You’ve recently commented that the market is currently marked by an abundance of private capital and companies’ willingness to remain private for longer. How are companies weighing public listings against alternatives such as private funding rounds and trade sale exits?

There’s a lot of private capital that is happy to stay private for a certain amount of time. Companies don’t need to access the US capital markets to fund their needs. Because the private capital market is so deep and extensive, for many companies, it’s a better option to stay private while they can and fund themselves that way, with an eventual exit coming at the time that they deem to be appropriate for their business and for their needs. So there’s no longer the necessity to go public. Companies have the flexibility and the luxury to wait for the right opportunity. It’s give and take all the time and it’s something that our clients are constantly talking about.

Companies that would have gone public years ago have managed to remain private for much, much longer, and can continue to remain private if that’s what they choose to do and if their investors are willing to support a private company.

What impact are geopolitical factors such as the US midterm elections, as well as regulatory developments, having on market activity?

For many companies in many industries, the midterms are a factor. For those of us who focus on clients outside the US, the Brazilian election [in October 2026] will no doubt have an impact on Brazil issuers but also Latam issuers that are close to Brazil. So geopolitical factors are always important when you’re trying to do a transaction. Argentina has an election coming up as well next year, so I think transactional activity from there will be somewhat more muted.

I think issuers welcome the pro-business approach that the SEC has taken with respect to the transactions that they are reviewing. So the regulator in the US should be commended for the way in which they are facilitating access to the capital markets.

Moving on from public listings, where are you seeing momentum in debt issuance, share repurchases, and liability management?

We’re seeing issuers get ready for debt offerings, but, again, markets have been so volatile. Interest rates have been going up. People are now investing more and everyone’s flocking to treasuries again. So until there’s a bit more stability in the market, I think a lot of the deals that are lining up to go, unless they have to go, are not going to go.

We have had a handful of issuers decide that this was the right market for them and they went ahead and they tested the market and were pleased with their outcomes. But I think more deals are waiting on the sideline for a bit more stability than rushing to get out the door.

How do you see the next 12 months panning out? Where are the challenges and opportunities for issuers and which particular sectors will drive activity?

We have a significant pipeline of issuers that want to come to market. There are a variety of industries that they are a part of, but AI is quite hot, or anything that is AI-adjacent. We’ve done a significant number of defence deals and have a significant number in the pipeline as well. There are a bunch of tech issuers. And obviously the healthcare issuers, who are always coming to market.

But what we’re seeing in terms of the pipeline, it’s quite broad-based and it’s also got a geographic reach that extends beyond the Americas, and companies in other parts of the world are looking to access the capital markets.

We’re excited for what 2027 will bring. I would say we’re cautiously optimistic. While the end of ’26 isn’t bringing the number of deals that we had hoped for, we’re ready to execute on behalf of our clients. There’s such a great pipeline building that we’re hopeful that ’27 will let many of these companies see their day in the sun.