9 IPOs were recorded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) in H1. 2022 compared to 19 in the same period last year. All of them took place on NewConnect, and the total value of the offers amounted to PLN 27.3 million (EUR 6.9 million), which means a decrease of 99.5% compared to 2021, when 19 IPOs were recorded (of which 5 on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange) with a total value of PLN 5.9 billion (EUR 1.3 billion), according to the “IPO Watch Europe” report prepared by the consulting company PwC.
Among the 9 offers carried out on the alternative NewConnect market, the largest offer in terms of value was carried out by a medical company, SDS Optic, with an IPO worth PLN 11 million (EUR 2.4 million). The second and third place went to, respectively, the technological company Noctiluca (offer worth PLN 4.6 million) and BeeIN – a company from the renewable energy sector (offer worth PLN 4 million), it was announced.
“The level of uncertainty and macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions worsened further in the second quarter of the year. As a result, successful IPO, even by issuers who are well prepared for IPOs and operating in attractive sectors of the economy, is an increasingly difficult process, requiring significant commitment on the part of management boards. , sufficiently early communication with investors and a good pre-marketing strategy The transactions carried out on the largest European stock exchanges in the first half of the year prove that the market is not completely closed to new issuers and that even in such a difficult environment, favorable conditions for selected individual transactions appear. Nevertheless, the return of a wide wave of issuers to the market seems possible when the level of uncertainty decreases, and with it – the recently growing gap in company valuation expectations between sellers (companies and owners) and investors,” said Bartosz Margol, partner in the PwC Polska capital markets team.
According to data obtained by PwC, in the first half of 2022, the total value of IPOs in Europe amounted to EUR 4.8 billion and decreased by 89.6% compared to the same period of the previous year. In the period from January to June 2022, there were 57 IPOs (compared to 231 in the first half of 2021). In Q2 2022, the largest market in terms of IPO value turned out to be the stock exchange in Italy – Borsa Italiana with the total value of conducted offers (3 IPOs) at the level of EUR 519 million. Nasdaq Nordic Stockholm came second (5 bids worth EUR 322 million) and Euronext Paris third (5 IPOs worth EUR 305 million) was also indicated.
The largest IPO in Europe in Q2 2022 was the offer of Industrie de Nora (EUR 474 million) carried out on Borsa Italiana. The remaining places were taken by RA Special Acquisition Corp (offer worth EUR 219 million, debut on Euronext Amsterdam) and EPIC Suisse (debut on the SIX Swiss Exchange with an offer worth EUR 187 million).
Source: PWC and ISBnews
