AFME Q1 2024 Equity Primary Markets and Trading Report

Equity underwriting on European exchanges rose 4% YoY in Q1 2024 on the back of a moderate 1% YoY increase in secondary equity offerings and a large annual increase in IPOs.
Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) saw a large percentage increase of 387% YoY which, however, represented a small amount of only €5bn raised in Q1 2024, significantly below the quarterly average of €8bn observed since 2010.
- Not included in the Q1 2024 European total is Finland-headquartered company Amer Sports Inc, which launched its IPO on the NYSE raising $1.6bn at the end of January (the second-largest IPO by a European company during the quarter).
- IPO activity also increased on US exchanges but continues below historic quarterly averages. Chinese IPOs sharply declined raising €2.5bn in Q1 2024 (€10.4bn in Q1 2023).
- As of Q1 2024, a total of 6,981 domestic companies were listed on European exchanges, a decline from 7,113 in March of 2023 and 7,216 in March 2022
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) declined when measured as completed value (-12% YoY) but rose when measured as announced value (55% YoY), which may anticipate a robust outlook for European M&A.
Average daily equity trading on European main markets and MTFs declined 6% YoY but increased 14% QoQ.
- Data trends show a deterioration in market liquidity as measured by turnover ratio (turnover value/market cap), with a decline from c150% in 2018 to 100-110% in the last 12 months.
Double-volume cap update: According to ESMA, the number of instruments suspended under the DVC has marginally declined over the last 12 months, with 232 suspended instruments (191 at EU Level and 41 at TV level) as of March 2024. The number of instruments suspended at the TV was the lowest since August 2021