The week before the Labor Day holiday had no initial public offerings (IPOs) on the calendar and the week after the holiday shows just one on the schedule. The trickle may turn into a stream in the following week, but it might still be a couple of weeks before the stream turns into a river. Through the week ending August 21st (the last in which there was an IPO on U.S. markets), IPO ETF manager Renaissance Capital reported that 131 IPOs have priced in the U.S. so far this year, down about 31% from a year ago. Total proceeds raised through last week equaled $22.3 billion, down about 45% compared with the same period in 2014. Of the 131 IPOs that have gone off this year, 58 have come from the healthcare sector. Last year’s IPO total came in at $85.2 billion, the highest total in the past ten years. Renaissance Capital does not include “best efforts” or blank check companies in its totals. The coming week’s lone offering is Sole Elite Group Ltd., a China-based maker of shoe soles used in the manufacture of sports shoes. The company plans to offer 3 million shares in an expected price range of $10 to $12 to raise $33 million at a fully diluted market cap of $198 million. The sole bookrunner for the offering is Dawson James. Shares have been scheduled to begin trading during the week of September 7th on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SOLE. By Paul Ausick More