This report provides an update on the performance of the equity market in Europe in areas such as primary issuance, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), trading, and valuations.
Key highlights:
- Equity underwriting (IPOs, follow-ons and convertibles) on European exchanges accumulated a total of €100.2 bn in proceeds in the first three quarters 2018, a 42% decrease from the value originated in the same period of 2017 (€172.5 bn).
IPO issuance in 2018 year-to-date (YtD) decreased by 12% against the amount issued in the first three quarters of 2017.
- Completed Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) of European companies totalled €685.3 bn in the first three quarters of 2018, a decrease of 10% from the amount completed in 2017YtD (€ 764.0 bn).
The amount of announced M&A deals totalled €877.8 bn in 2018YtD, a 31% increase from the same period of 2017. During 3Q18, two large megadeals were announced (Petrohawk Energy – BP and Wind Tre SpA - CK Hutchison).
- Equity trading activity on European main markets and MTFs generated a total of €8.9 tn in turnover value in the first three quarters of 2018, an increase of 3% from 2017YtD (€8.7tn)
- Update on MiFID II dark trading caps:
- In 7 March 2018, ESMA published the double volume cap (DVC) data files specifying the securities that surpassed the MiFID II limits of dark trading on EU venues.
- From a Universe of 26,609 equity-like securities traded in the EU, 652 are currently suspended (as of October 2018) from dark trading either on specific EU venues (104 securities) or on all EU venues (548) after surpassing the MiFID II dark trading thresholds (4% dark traded in a given trading venue and 8% for suspension at EU level).
- The number of banned instruments has decreased during the year from 755 in March 2018, 1,262 in August, and 652 most recently in October.
- Dark trading rose 6% quarter-on-quarter during 3Q18. The increase can be attributed to the completion of the 6-month DVC suspension for c700 equity-like instruments in September.
1-3Q 2018 YtD variation of European Equity activity (EU28 member countries and Switzerland)
