The pressure to tap the market builds but the obstacles look as daunting as ever

Equity capital markets (ECM) lawyers eyeing up another year of uncertainty must be wondering which will win out in 2011: irresistible force or immovable object?

On one hand, you have the building pressure to tap the equity markets from the growing queue of companies that have been put off braving the market for more than two years thanks to tough market conditions. In theory, at some point issuers with solid stories for investors must accept that there will be no quick return to rosy valuations and just get on with it.