The market is brightening for companies that want to become publicly traded, which is giving renewed power to sellers of assets by returning a key bargaining chip they had lost.

The next few weeks are set to be some of the busiest since late 2007 for US initial public offerings. At least two sizeable healthcare companies are primed to price their IPOs within weeks – Talecris Biotherapeutics, a blood plasma provider, and Select Medical, a US hospital operator.