Europe's IPO market posts good nine-month result – but decline in the third quarter

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• The focus of global IPO activity is shifting permanently
• The US market continues to grow, Europe sees growth in issue volume, China in reverse gear
• Five European stocks among the global top 10 IPOs this year
• Technology, industry and health/life science in demand among sectors
• Switzerland remains with one IPO in the year-to-date 2024

Zurich, 26 September 2024 - The results of the current IPO barometer of the auditing and consulting firm EY in Switzerland show: In a traditionally quiet third quarter of 2024, 310 companies went public worldwide – 14 percent fewer than in the same quarter of the previous year (359). The issue volume fell by 35 percent to 24.9 billion US dollars. The figures for the first three quarters of 2024 are also down due to the weaker third quarter: 870 IPOs are down 11 percent year-on-year, $77.6 billion in placement volume is down 23 percent.

There were significant regional shifts in the first nine months of 2024. The US saw an increase in the number of IPOs, with 130 IPOs (previous year: 101) and an issue volume of 27.3 billion US dollars (previous year: 19.4 billion US dollars). The largest IPO in the US in Q3 in terms of issue volume was that of Lineage Inc., with 5.1 billion US dollars.

The market for IPOs in China shrank significantly, with only 120 IPOs (-62 percent year-on-year) and an issue volume of 13.5 billion US dollars (-73 percent). A total of 94 companies were listed on European stock exchanges (-12 percent), with a significantly higher issue volume of 15.4 billion US dollars (+42 percent) over the year as a whole. The highest proportions of the global issue volume in the first three quarters of USD 77.6 billion were accounted for by the technology (USD 14.0 billion), health/life science (USD 11.9 billion) and industrial (USD 11.7 billion) sectors.

Switzerland: Only one IPO during three quarters in 2024

In Switzerland, no IPOs were carried out in the third quarter, as was also the case in the second quarter. This means that there has been only one IPO in the first nine months of the current year, the listing of Galderma Group AG on the SIX Swiss Stock Exchange in the first quarter. This IPO had a transaction size of almost CHF 2.3 billion. This roughly corresponds to the total volume of all ten IPOs in Switzerland in 2023. In terms of the current year, Galderma's IPO is one of the largest in terms of volume worldwide and ranks fourth overall. Only the IPOs of Lineage Inc. (USA, $5.1 billion), Midea Group Co. Ltd. (China, $4.0 billion) and Puig Brands SA (Spain, $2.9 billion) generated a higher volume.

Tobias Meyer, Leader Transaction Accounting and IPO Services at EY in Switzerland, says: “2024 will remain a challenging year for IPOs, with sentiment being determined, among other things, by continuing geopolitical tensions, the uncertain economic outlook, the outcome and consequences of the US presidential election and the expected further easing of monetary policy.” Nevertheless, Meyer sees cause for cautious optimism: “Well-known stock indices are trading close to their all-time highs, the central banks in Europe and the US have implemented initial interest rate cuts, and inflation rates are also falling steadily in many countries, while the level of volatility generally remains rather low.”

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