The initial public offering (IPO) executed on European stock exchanges in 2021 was valued at €75 billion. This means an increase of 269% over the same period last year (20.3 billion euros). 2021 is also the busiest year for the European IPO market – 422 debuts were recorded, compared to 135 in 2020. InPost’s debut at Euronext in Amsterdam, with an offer of over €3.2 billion, was the largest IPO in Europe and fifth in the world. The Warsaw Stock Exchange has registered the largest number of IPOs (44 in total in the Main and Newconnect market) since 2013.

“In Europe, 2021 was an exceptional year, both in terms of the number of IPOs and the value of the offerings. 422 IPOs, of which 14 came with bids over €1 billion, confirm optimism in the market after a period of uncertainty caused by the pandemic. The outlook for 2022 remains positive. Cautiously, in particular, we should expect greater selectivity from investors as a result of the unstable geopolitical and economic situation, as well as notable declines in the price quotations of many novices in the past year, says Bartos Margol, partner in the capital markets team at PricewaterhouseCoopers. .

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According to data obtained by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the total value of initial public offerings in Europe last year amounted to 75.0 billion euros and increased significantly compared to 2020 (by 54.7 billion euros). 422 companies appeared on European stock exchanges (compared to 135 companies in 2020). There were 14 so-called mega offers, that is, initial public offerings, the value of which exceeded one billion euros.

InPost, which made its debut on the Euronext-Amsterdam stock exchange, received the largest amount of funds during the offering in 2021. The IPO was worth 3.2 billion euros. Volvo Car AB (presentation of €2.3 billion executed at Nasdaq Nordic – Stockholm) and Vantage Towers AG (debut on German stock exchange – Deutsche Boerse of €2.2 billion offer) took the next places.

The most active in the European IPO market last year was the London Stock Exchange (100 IPOs with a total value of 19.5 billion euros), followed by Nasdaq Stockholm, with 78 IPOs and an offering value of 11.9 billion euros. Euronext-Amsterdam was ranked 3rd in Europe by value of capital raised (11.4 billion euros with 24 debuts).

Activity in the European IPO market since 2017 *

*Data includes only initial public offerings over $5 million.

IPO on the Polish Stock Exchange

In 2021, there were 40 IPOs on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, compared to 19 in 2020. The total value of IPOs in WSE last year (jointly regulated market and NewConnect) was 9.313 billion PLN (2.050 billion euros), which means A decrease of 15% compared to 2020 (it is worth noting that the Allegro.eu IPO dominated last year’s statistics with a value of PLN 10.6 billion).

Of the 12 IPOs on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the largest was the Pepco Group’s 3.698 billion PLN (818.3 million euro) offer, and it ranked 20th among the largest in Europe. Huuuge Games took the next three places in terms of bid size (1.666 billion PLN / 371.8 million €), Grupa Pracuj (1.120 billion PLN / 239.1 million €) and STS Holdings (1.078 billion PLN / 234.7 million €).

Last year was by far the best period of IPO activity on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in years. In 2021, the Warsaw Stock Exchange accepted 4 offers worth more than 1 billion PLN, including 2 foreign companies, which is an unprecedented event and builds the image of a market that is regularly fueled by major international appearances. Despite the somewhat disappointing results of some “negative” IPOs, interest in the debut of potential issuers remains high, and more and more companies are initiating stock exchange plans and appropriate preparations from a 2-3 year perspective,” says Margol.

There were 32 debuts on the NewConnect market in 2021, the largest of which was the computer game producer Render Cube – the bid was valued at 16.3 million PLN. The second and third places were taken by Creotech Instruments from the aerospace industry (11.3 million PLN) and the technology company Woodpecker.co (11.0 million PLN).

Active in the IPO market in Poland since 2010

About the IPO Watch Europe . report

The IPO Watch Europe report covers all IPOs of the major stock exchanges in Europe (including those in the European Union, Great Britain, Iceland, Norway, Turkey, Serbia and Switzerland) and is published quarterly. The beginnings of entities that have previously conducted initial public offerings and transfer between markets on a single exchange are not included in the statistics. The report covers the period from January 1 to December 31, 2021 and has been prepared based on the shares or rights on the shares offering dates.

As of the 2019 Q2 report, IPO Watch Europe only covers shows valued at more than $5 million. To ensure comparability, the data for prior periods included in the IPO Watch Europe report have been correctly restated. Commentary on the Polish market covers all debuts in the Warsaw market, regardless of their value.

The IPO Watch Europe report can be downloaded at: www.pwc.pl/ipowatch. Annual summaries for 2004-2021 are also available.

Compiled on the basis of a press release.

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