• Second strongest quarter since Q3 2011
• London topped the quarter again with just under half of overall proceeds raised
• PE-backed IPOs continued to dominate and accounted for almost 60% of proceeds    raised

1 August 2013, Kyiv - Europe’s Initial Public Offerings (IPO) markets have continued to gain momentum in Q2, building on the successful start to the year, with €5.2bn being raised, a 58% increase on the €3.3bn raised in the first quarter of 2013.

London topped the quarter again with just under half of overall proceeds raised, followed by Euronext with 18% and the Deutsche Börse with 14%. Following the successful IPOs of esure and Countrywide in Q1, PE-backed IPOs continued to dominate the landscape in the second quarter accounting for almost 60% of proceeds raised and seven out of the top 10 IPOs.”

Over 81% of proceeds raised in Q2 was generated from the top 10 deals. Of note is the IPO of bpost, Belgium’s national postal service on Euronext and Platform Acquisition Holdings, the first major special purpose acquisition company to IPO in London since Vallares in Q2 2011.

The post IPO performance of the PE-backed IPOs in 2013 has been encouraging, particularly in London where they have achieved significant gains on the IPO price since listing and have also outperformed the FTSE index over the period since IPO. Elsewhere in Europe, with the exception of Moleskine and Evonik, which are trading below their respective IPO prices, the majority of PE-backed IPOs have held their IPO price since listing and remain generally in line with the market.

It’s been a story of two halves for the European equities markets this quarter with indices strengthening in the first half as investor confidence grew across the eurozone, with the FTSE reaching near record levels in mid-May.

However, in the past month volatility has returned to the global equity markets due to concerns over the Chinese economy and the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing its intention to wind down its programme of quantitative easing. Although the major European markets plummeted during this period, by the end of the quarter they have recovered to some degree – the FTSE closed the quarter just over 5% above the level as at the end of 2012.

Despite the challenging market conditions over the past month, the IPO market has proved relatively resilient, with over 55% of the quarter’s proceeds being raised in June. We are seeing a healthy and growing list of companies entering Europe’s IPO pipeline encouraged by the success of recent IPOs and their performance in the after markets. We anticipate that the momentum gathered over the first half of 2013 will continue as the year unfolds.