AFME is pleased to circulate its Equity Primary Markets and Trading Report for the fourth quarter of 2019 (4Q 2019) and 2019 full year.

The 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 equity valuations

Key highlights: a challenging 2019 for equity activity 

• Equity underwriting on European exchanges accumulated a total of €116.1 bn in proceeds in 2019, a 6% decrease from the value originated in 2018 (€124 bn).
  
  152 IPOs were issued on European exchanges during 2019—the lowest annual number since 2012 (144).
  
  IPO proceeds in 2019 decreased 38% compared to the amount raised in 2018. IPOs on Junior markets totalled €1.8 bn in proceeds in 2019, the lowest annual amount since 2015.
   
• Completed Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) of European companies totalled €903.2 bn in 2019, a decrease of 16% from 2018 (€1,072.2 bn). 
  
  The Iberia region saw the lowest M&A deal value amount since 2003 while M&A of Nordic European countries reversed a 4-year upward trend with a 20% annual decline in deal value. 
  
  Private Equity-backed M&A activity (“Sponsor” deals) totalled €256 bn in 2019— a decline of 14% and also the lowest annual amount since 2016. 
   
• Equity trading activity on European main markets and MTFs generated a total of €9.3 tn in turnover value in 2019, a decrease of 16% from 2018 (€11.0 tn). 
   
• Update on MiFID II dark trading caps:
  The European Double Volume Cap (DVC) mechanism seeks to limit the amount of dark trading of equity-like instruments on EU venues. 
  
  ESMA publishes on a monthly basis the list of instruments temporarily banned from dark trading at the EU or trading venue level after their trading volumes surpass pre-determined dark trading thresholds.
  
  The number of instruments banned from dark trading has increased over the last six months from 267 in August 2019 to 421 in January 2020 (c1% of the Universe of 28,880 equity and equity-like instruments).

2019FY variation of European Equity activity
EU27 member countries, UK and Switzerland