Many people have argued long and hard that companies are eschewing public offerings because of Sarbox. I am not completely sold on this, but one could point to as evidence recent trends in the market for privately placed securities. Goldman Sachs has launched a service, GSTrUE, through which companies can sell securities privately. Clearly, Wall Street is onto something. More money has been raised this year via private placements than through initial public offerings. And there are powerful forces that aim to fuel the market even more. Notably, the Nasdaq is gearing up to launch a new service, called Portal, which will provide an infrastructure for private securities transactions. Nasdaq hails it as one of the most important capital market developments in recent history. But there are powerful critics. This is a trend to watch.   

For more:
- here's an article from Financial News Online