A SUDDEN wobble in equity markets has not yet deterred the handful of issuers working on September listings in Europe, bankers say, but top-end pricing may prove elusive in this choppy market.
Private equity firms may help Europe resume the pace set in the spring. Partners Group Holding is weighing a launch of the initial public offering of German metring company Techem as soon as September, Bloomberg News reported on Aug 9.
It joins other would-be issuers eyeing the September window. CVC Capital Partners-backed Polish retailer Zabka Polska and Springer Nature, an academic publisher that counts BC Partners among its backers, are both considering second-half listings, Bloomberg News has reported.
“Markets have calmed down very quickly, which is encouraging to see, so it is possible that there is little impact on the timing of second-half listings,” said Andrew Briscoe, Bank of America’s head of equity capital markets syndicate in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Let’s see how it goes over the next few weeks.”
There has been some relief from the volatility that ripped through markets last week, fuelled by concerns the Federal Reserve is waiting too long to cut interest rates.
The Cboe Volatility Index – Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge – spiked suddenly last Monday, but it has since stabilised, and is still well below the highs it touched in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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“The US election has already anyway curtailed the second-half listing window, no issuer wants to price around that event,” Briscoe said. “The listing window post-election is pretty tight too, so there really is only limited time remaining to get deals away.”
Bankers were already bracing for a slower second-half after more than US$14 billion was raised on European stock exchanges in the first six months for this year, marking the best first-half for the region since the global IPO boom of 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The sudden spike in volatility has already claimed some deals though, with quick-to-market transactions planned for last week getting delayed due to the unexpected sell-off.
“Issuers behind these deals have naturally said they’ll return post-summer, instead of testing the market now,” Briscoe said. BLOOMBERG
