Initial public offerings (IPOs) in the 2007/08 financial year had the fiercest competition for getting investors' money since 2001, research by financial services firm Deloitte showed.
Investors poured $5.9 billion into 199 IPOs for the 12 months to June 30, an average of nearly $30 million each.
The figures represent the worst year for IPOs since the 2001 financial year, when 154 new hopefuls raised nearly the same amount each.
In the 2007 financial year, a record 221 IPOs collectively gathered $10.5 billion, the data showed.
Investors also lost an average of 3 per cent if they invested in the 2008 financial year, compared to a 91 per cent gain in the 2007 financial year.
"The story of the past year is more accurately reflected by an average loss of 29 per cent for investors in the 10 biggest IPOs of the past year," Deloitte corporate finance partner Steve Woosnam said.
The biggest IPO of the year was RAMS Home Loans, which attracted nearly $700 million in investor funding.
The company floated at $2.50 in July last year and then crashed to 6 cents before being rescued by Westpac Bank after the United States sub-prime market collapsed.
Other highly anticipated IPOs such as Babcock and Brown Communities, Orchard Industrial Property and Multiplex European property tumbled by 65 per cent, 62 per cent and 45 per cent respectively.
Several financial planning firms have delayed listing this financial year as the S&P/ASX 200 declined nearly 17 per cent to 5215, the year since performance since 1982.
Financial planning companies Professional Investment Services, Centric Wealth, Storm Financial and Best Advice have all delayed plans for an IPO.
However, the best 10 best performing IPOs in 2008 returned an average of 332 per cent to investors, Deloitte's data showed.
Perth-based Centaurus Resources, a metals explorer, had returned 1500 per cent since its August 2007 listing.
