If you want to know whether capitalism is alive and kicking, watch company share launches. Initial public offerings allow investors to profit from business success stories, provide finance for job creation and economic growth, and reinvigorate global equities markets.

The latest news is not encouraging. Yesterday’s $1.7bn London debut of Megafon showed European equity capital markets still have a heartbeat. But the poor reception for the Russian mobile phone operator’s shares, which fell below the offer price soon after trading started, will only fuel fears that the runaway IPO success has become an endangered species.

Global IPO volumes have fallen this year to levels scarcely better than in 2008 and 2009, when the world economy reeled from the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank. Even in a weak market, Europe is underperforming, accounting for just 11 per cent of global IPO proceeds so far this year. That is less than half last year’s proportion, Thomson Reuters data show. The result has been soul-searching among banks and stock exchanges. The future of the IPO is not just about how well capital markets are functioning. At stake is the sustainability of banks’ equity markets departments, which depend on IPOs spinning off other business but face severe competition in a shrinking industry.