- The number of IPOs rises by almost a quarter in the third quarter of 2021, issue volume by a total of 11 percent
- One IPO is imminent and on schedule in Switzerland – five local companies have decided to go public abroad since July 2021
- Worldwide there are already around 470 SPAC issues, Swiss Stock Exchange is still clarifying the details
The global IPO market has continued to show good form in the third quarter of 2021: A total of 547 companies worldwide ventured to go public in the period from July to September – 23 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. The corresponding issue volume rose by eleven percent to a total of USD 106 billion.
- According to the latest IPO Barometer of the auditing and consulting firm EY, the strongest growth in IPOs in the third quarter of 2021 was registered in Europe, as in the previous quarter. Compared with the same quarter in 2020, the number of IPOs on the European stock markets more than doubled from 37 to 85, while the total issue volume rose from USD 6.3 to 11.6 billion (up by 83 percent).
- Although most IPOs were again registered in China (including Hong Kong), the IPO activity there was less pronounced than in the very strong previous year. In China, 151 companies went public in the third quarter, 30 percent fewer than in the same period last year. In fact the issue volume in the same period fell by 28 percent to USD 33.8 billion.
- In the USA, IPO activity showed an uneven trend in the third quarter of 2021. Although the number of IPOs rose by 25 percent to 105, the issue volume shrank by three percent to USD 32.2 billion.
- The world’s ten largest IPOs in the third quarter were posted by China Telecom (China), Krafton (South Korea), Robinhood Markets (USA), Kakao Bank (South Korea), Xpeng (China), Azelis (Belgium), Acciona Energia (Spain), Li Auto (China), Ryan Speciality Group (USA) and PT Bukalapak.com (Indonesia).
The technology sector continues to be favored
In the third quarter of this year, tech companies in particular were again attracting the interest of investors. Around one in four IPOs worldwide (26 percent), or 35 percent of the total issue volume, was accounted for by technology companies. On the other hand, companies from the healthcare sector account for 18 percent of all new issues and 15 percent of the capital raised.
Tobias Meyer, Head of Transaction Accounting and IPO Services at EY Switzerland notes: “The Corona pandemic has clearly accelerated the existing trends towards digitization and further enhanced the technology boom. Accordingly, companies with a digital business model generally have a promising equity story and are currently attracting relatively strong interest from investors.”
Switzerland: Medmix IPO is imminent
Medmix has announced its intention to go public on the Swiss stock exchange at the end of the third quarter of 2021. Currently the Swiss company still forms the Applicator Systems division of the Swiss industrial group Sulzer. Medmix is scheduled to be spun off from Sulzer on October 1 and will henceforth be positioned as an independent leading supplier of precision equipment in the healthcare, industrial, and consumer goods sectors.
At the same time, five companies from Switzerland decided to go public on a foreign stock exchange in the third quarter of 2021. The biotechnology company Sophia Genetics and the sports data company Sportradar have decided to go public on the US technology exchange Nasdaq. The sporting goods manufacturer On has had itself listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the space flight company Astrocast on Euronext in Oslo, and the software provider ID-Entity on the Italian stock exchange. The Swiss company Energy Vault also intends to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange soon through a merger with the SPAC Novus Capital Corporation II.
IPO expert Tobias Meyer of EY Switzerland expects further IPOs in Switzerland. The new stock exchange segment “Sparks”, which is to be launched on 1st October and which is aimed specifically at start-ups and SMEs that are ready for an IPO, should also contribute to this trend.
468 SPAC issues worldwide
In the current year, a total of 468 SPAC transactions have been recorded worldwide, more than three times as many as in the same period last year, when 119 SPAC issues were registered in the period from January to September. 89 of these shell companies went public in the third quarter of 2021. For comparison: there were 304 IPOs in the first quarter of this year, and 75 such transactions in the second quarter.
Of the 468 SPAC IPOs in the current year, the USA accounted for 437 (93 percent), while Europe recorded 31 such issues. “SPACs are primarily a US phenomenon, but we are seeing a lot of interest in Europe as well,” says Tobias Meyer. For 2022, he therefore expects an increasing number of such indirect IPOs: “The coffers of the SPACs are bulging full – this opens up a promising additional route to the stock market for interested companies – both in Europe and the US. No SPACs can be listed on the SIX Swiss stock exchange at this time, but corresponding clarifications and preparatory work are underway.”
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