New figures show
The European IPO market has seen a strong start to 2018, with €12.5 bn raised in the first three months of the year, more than double the €4.6bn raised in Q1 2017.
This was largely due to the mega-IPOs of Siemens’ Healthineers and Deutsche Bank’s DWS Group, which raised €3.7bn and €1.3bn respectively, boosting European IPO values towards the end of the quarter.
Mark Hughes, capital markets partner at PwC, said: “The first quarter of 2018 has seen increased volatility and significant corrections to global indices. Europe’s IPO markets have proved resilient with investors eager to find value and ready to engage in early conversations with companies with compelling equity stories and solid fundamentals.
“Despite uncertainty around the ongoing Brexit negotiations, a potential trade war between the US and China and rumoured interest rate rises, Europe’s IPO market remains open for business.”
Deutsche Borse was the top exchange by value, hosting the two largest European IPOs in the quarter with the carve-out IPOs of medical technology company Siemens’ Healthineers and asset manager DWS Group.
The London Stock Exchange remains the number one exchange in Europe by volume, although IPO proceeds are down from last year with 16 IPOs raising £1.3bn compared to £1.8bn from 20 IPOs in Q1 2017. The financial sector continued to dominate UK IPOs and accounted for 71% of proceeds, including JTC plc, the Jersey based institutional and private client financial services business, which raised £244m, UK adviser platform IntegraFin Holdings, which raised £178m and niche lender TruFin, which raised £70m.
Lucy Tarleton, capital markets director at PwC, commented: “Q1 is typically a quieter quarter in terms of UK IPO activity, and last year it was boosted by a backlog of IPOs after a pause in activity following the EU referendum.
“In addition, with the public markets frequently in competition with valuations from the private sector and the prospect of selling shareholders retaining a significant stake following IPO, dual-track processes are increasingly common. The dual-track process is attractive as it can help shareholders and issuers reach a successful outcome while hedging against the volatility in public markets.
“The outlook is promising and issuers continue to be attracted to the UK market with a number of cross-border IPOs set to launch in London. ”
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