The market for initial public offerings (IPOs) has essentially ground to a halt around the Labor Day holiday. Only one IPO was completed last week, and there are none on the schedule for the first week of September. Then comes the Big One.

Chinese internet behemoth Alibaba is planning to begin its IPO roadshow on September 8, and the biggest IPO of the year — maybe the biggest ever — will follow close behind. The company is expected to raise about $20 billion when it lists on the New York Stock Exchange, and it may even topple the current all-time largest IPO, the $22.1 billion raised by the Agricultural Bank of China in July of 2010. The company’s valuation is calculated at $140 billion. We’ll be covering the roadshow and the IPO over the next few weeks.

The IPO that was completed last week was Sino Mercury Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: SMACU), a blank-check company that plans to focus its business on businesses located in China that operate in the non-traditional financial industry, including but not limited to micro-credit companies, financial leasing companies and guarantors. The firm sold 4 million units at $10 a share, raising $40 million against a market cap of $52.1 million.

Zosano Pharma and GWG Holdings were also scheduled to begin trading last week, but both have postponed their IPOs.

One other IPO has been scheduled for the week of September 8. ReWalk Robotics is an Israel-based medical device company that designs and sells exoskeletons that give mobility-impaired patients that ability to walk. The firm plans to offer 3.4 million shares at an IPO price range of $14 to $16. At the mid-point of that price range, the company’s valuation is about $173 million. The stock is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol RWLK.

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