A glance at the volume tables will leave you in no doubt that it's been a bumper year for mergers and acquisitions, but new figures reveal the extent of the drop in companies listing abroad in a year that "has been an obstacle course of problems" for cross-border IPOs.

The two-year boom for cross-border floats came to an abrupt end this year, according to new data from law firm Baker & McKenzie, with the volume of these deals plunging 56% and the number of deals down 39% from 2014.