Funds raised on Australia's equity capital markets have totalled US$25 billion so far this year, a 98 per cent increase over the first nine months of 2013. According to Thomson Reuters latest Investment Banking Review, this is the strongest period of Australian equity capital raisings since 2009, bolstered by at least four offerings above US$1 billion.In what must be welcome news for investment bankers and their allied professional services firms, initial public offerings totalled US$7.8 billion, up 425 per cent in proceeds from double the number of share floats, compared to the same period last year. Private equity exits through Australian IPO drove the market for new listings in 2014, with at least eight IPO exits generating US$4.5 billion. In fact, the top three Australian IPOs so far this year were private equity-backed, topped by Healthscope's IPO, which raised US$2.1 billion in proceeds after the company was bought in 2010 by a consortium led by TPG Capital and Carlyle Group.After Healthscope, Spotless Group Holdings issued the nation's second largest IPO, raising US$920 million after the company was taken private in 2012 by Australia's private equity firm, Pacific Equity Partners.UBS currently leads the ranking for Australia ECM underwriting with US$4.4 billion in related proceeds, and 17.7 per cent market share. UBS was one of the book runners for Healthscope's IPO.Goldman Sachs jumps to second place with US$4.3 billion in related proceeds. Along with Citi, Goldman Sachs was one of the book runners for Royal Dutch Shell's US$3.0 billion sell down, through block trade, of its stake in Woodside Petroleum.