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European listings are showing signs of a revival as a string of companies launch or prepare initial public offerings, giving hope to the region’s capital markets after a prolonged slowdown.
This week, security services company Verisure raised €3.2bn in the biggest European listing for three years, while prosthetics company Ottobock raised €700mn in Germany’s largest IPO this year.
Swedish digital bank Noba, German automotive company Aumovio, skin laser seller The Beauty Tech Group and classifieds business Swiss Marketplace Group have all listed in Europe in the past few weeks.
Several more flotations are being planned, including an IPO of €10bn German auto marketplace Mobile.de in Frankfurt, and London listings for tinned food company Princes Group and specialist UK lender Shawbrook.
Company executives and their advisers say geopolitical and economic worries — including market jitters sparked by US tariffs — have eased somewhat, creating a more favourable environment for listings after several IPOs were put on hold.
Stock markets are also trading at record highs, giving further encouragement for companies to list.
“We’re breaking the deadlock,” said Richard Cormack, head of Emea equity capital markets at Goldman Sachs, adding that there was a “good-sized cohort of transactions . . . It feels like now we’re at the proper start of a cycle.”
Martin Thorneycroft, global co-head of equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley, said Verisure’s blockbuster listing “will give a big boost to the large-cap, high-quality assets in the pipeline”.
European stock exchanges have been struggling to attract new listings: there have been 76 so far this year, the lowest level since 2009, according to Dealogic data.
Private equity firms have held on to companies for longer, rather than bringing them to the market, in the face of subdued demand, while some businesses, such as Swedish fintech Klarna, have chosen to list in the US, lured by higher valuations and deeper capital markets.
The lack of listings has triggered European policymakers to try to encourage more domestic investment in homegrown businesses and incentivise founders to list businesses in the region.
Companies listing on Sweden’s Nasdaq stock exchange have raised the most so far this year, at $6.7bn, according to Dealogic, while $1.2bn has been raised on the Frankfurt stock exchange, and the same amount on the Swiss SIX venue.
“It’s encouraging that activity is broadening beyond markets with strong domestic bases like Switzerland and Scandinavia”, said Stephane Gruffat, Deutsche Bank’s global head of equity capital markets syndicate. “We’re now seeing renewed demand in the UK, Germany and Spain — including [from] retail investors.”
