Europe's market for initial public offerings hit a lull this week as choppy markets kept companies on the sidelines, but bankers said the pipeline for second quarter deals is filling up fast, with a host of issuers from Western Europe and Russia and CIS countries joining the lineup.

Danish cleaning giant ISS A/S, one of the few live deals in the market, is expected to set a price range and start a management roadshow toward the end of next week, in what would be the largest IPO so far this year in Europe. It aims to raise about DKK13.3 billion ($2.4 billion) in new shares and an undetermined amount of existing shares, for a partial exit by owners EQT Partners and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS).

In Norway, shares in offshore drilling contractor Aker Drilling ASA traded flat on their debut Friday, after pricing this week at NOK19 each. The company, a spin-off of Aker ASA (AKER.OS), raised NOK3.6 billion ($630 billion) from the offer.

The deal came at the bottom end of an initial range of NOK19-NOK27 a share, underscoring volatile markets that are making it a buyer's market for IPO investors.

Germany's Hapag-Lloyd is among the issuers in the pipeline, with an IPO that is seen completing in April to raise fresh capital and let part-owner TUI AG (TUI1.XE) divest some of its near-50% stake in the German container shipping company. People familiar with the matter said the offering, if it proceeds, will total between EUR1 billion and EUR1.5 billion.

The remaining 50.2% of Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest container shipping firm, is owned by the Albert Ballin GmbH & Co. KG consortium, whose members include the city of Hamburg and entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kuehne.

Work is also continuing on the planned EUR5 billion capital increase from Porsche Autombil Holding SE (PAH3.XE), despite the setback Thursday of Porsche's plan to merge with Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) because of an ongoing probe of its former managers.

Porsche has said it wants to complete the fundraising by May 30, to cut debt and prepare for the merger. Late Wednesday, it said the probability the merger would succeed would decrease if pending legal issues can't be resolved in time, adding that recent statements by public prosecutors suggest that investigations involving the German sports-car maker's former chief executive and chief financial officer won't be finalized this year.

One person close to the transaction said on Friday that the end of May is "not unreasonable" and that it should be completed by the end of June at the latest.

-By Margot Patrick, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9451; margot.patrick@dowjones.com

(Eyk Henning in Frankfurt contributed to this article.)
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