Geopolitical changes paint a mixed picture of IPO activity – Switzerland starts the year with an IPO in the first quarter

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• Global issuance volume increased by 20 percent in the first quarter to $29.3 billion, with the number of global IPOs rising slightly by 3 percent to 291.
• Significant increase in IPOs to 59 in the U.S., with more than half of U.S. IPOs (34) coming from abroad.
• Asia and Europe at last year's level in terms of the number of IPOs / Two IPOs from Europe in Q1 among the ten largest IPOs.
• In Switzerland, the Basel-based Bioversys AG went public, with an issuance volume of nearly $85 million.

Zurich, 10 April 2025 - The results of the current IPO barometer from the auditing and consulting firm EY Switzerland show: Worldwide, the IPO markets remained relatively stable in the first quarter of 2025 despite geopolitical developments. The number of initial listings was slightly above last year's figure at 291, compared to 283. The total issuance volume even rose by 20 percent to $29.3 billion (previous year: $24.5 billion).

Year-on-year, the IPO markets in the U.S. and Asia were significantly more robust than those in other regions in the first quarter of 2025. In the U.S., there were a total of 59 IPOs, an increase of 55 percent (38 in Q1 2024). Of these, more than half (34) came from abroad. The total volume reached $8.9 billion, compared to $8.8 billion in the previous year's quarter. In the Asian region, the absolute number of IPOs was 116 (after 118 in Q1 2024), at last year's level, while the issuance volume increased by 87 percent to $10.9 billion. The development in Europe was slightly declining with 29 IPOs (30 in Q1 2024); the volume reached $4.1 billion, down from $6.2 billion in Q1 2024. The Chinese IPO market recovered and is above last year's level with 49 IPOs, achieving a 41 percent increase in volume ($5.7 billion compared to $4.1 billion last year).

Of the global issuance volume of $29.3 billion, a quarter was attributed to technology companies. The largest IPO of the current quarter was the Japanese company JX Advanced Metals with around $3.0 billion, followed by U.S. companies Venture Global ($1.75 billion), CoreWeave ($1.5 billion), and SailPoint ($1.38 billion). With the Swedish Asker Healthcare Group AB ($886 million) and the Spanish company HBX Group ($772 million), two European firms made it to the 6th and 8th places in the Top 10, both companies having been held by private equity firms until their IPO.

Private equity and venture capital firms were involved in 9% of all IPOs in the first quarter of 2025, but accounted for 31% of the global issuance volume.

On the list of the largest IPOs in Europe, following the Swedish Asker Healthcare Group AB and the Spanish HBX Group are Roko AB from Sweden ($526 million), Diagnostyka SA from Poland ($418 million), and the Ferrari Group from the United Kingdom ($233 million).

“The global capital markets are currently experiencing turbulent and sometimes disruptive times. This is also reflected in the increased uncertainty since the beginning of the year, which leads to corresponding volatility in the markets. In addition to the geopolitically tense situation and some inflationary pressure, the announced and partially already implemented tariffs by the U.S. government are now adding to this, which can lead to an increase in consumer goods prices and a slowdown in global economic performance, and therefore have a massive effect on markets worldwide,” says Tobias Meyer, Head of Transaction Accounting and IPO Services at EY Switzerland.

Switzerland starts the new year with one IPO

In the traditionally weaker first quarter, there was one IPO on the Swiss stock exchange SIX. The Basel biotech company Bioversys AG went public on February 7 with an issuance volume of nearly $85 million. The company was formed from a spin-off of ETH in 2008. IPO candidates in Switzerland are monitoring the capital market environment, testing investor sentiment, and adjusting – as recent reports indicate – their timelines.

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