Europe's IPO Market Booms to a 6-Year High... Non-Face-to-Face Beneficiary Companies Continue to Go Public

[Image source= Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The European initial public offering (IPO) market is experiencing its biggest boom since 2015. This is because many online-based companies, newly spotlighted as daily life changed due to COVID-19, have launched large-scale fundraising efforts.

According to financial information firm Refinitiv, 16 companies have conducted IPOs in Europe this year, raising 8.4 billion euros. This is the second-largest IPO volume since Refinitiv began compiling related data in 1998.

As daily life shifted online due to COVID-19, IT companies and e-commerce firms expected to benefit from this change are consecutively entering the stock market. Among the companies that conducted IPOs, 70% are those anticipated to benefit from COVID-19.

Online commemorative card service provider Moonpig was listed on the London Stock Exchange on the 2nd. On the London Stock Exchange, a total of six companies have newly listed this year: four on the main market and two on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Analysts say that at least in the IPO market, the impact of Brexit is not felt.

Parcel storage service provider InPost was listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in the Netherlands, online car sales company Auto1 on the Frankfurt market in Germany, and online gaming company Huuuge on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland.

James Fleming, Global Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets (ECM) at Citigroup, said, "Structural changes are occurring in the e-commerce industry due to the impact of COVID-19," adding, "Changes that were expected to take five years have happened in just five months, leading to a significant revaluation of IT companies' worth."

Barry Meyers, Head of UK ECM at JP Morgan Chase, explained that the pace of stock issuance this year is 26 times faster than the same period last year.

In the United States, a record-high fundraising of 22.6 billion dollars has been achieved through IPOs this year.

Domestically, online shopping mall Coupang attracted attention by submitting its IPO registration statement to the New York Stock Exchange on the 12th. According to the filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Coupang's revenue last year was 11.97 billion dollars (about 13.25 trillion won), nearly double the 7.1 trillion won recorded in 2019. Coupang's sales surged as non-face-to-face contact became more active due to COVID-19.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.