Record start to 2021 for European IPOs

Although the coronavirus pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on the economy as a whole (the ONS having announced today that the UK's GDP fell by 9.9% in 2020, the biggest decline since the Great Frost of 1709, albeit narrowly avoiding a double-dip recession), certain sectors have managed to buck the trend. 

The FT has revealed today that 2021 has seen the best start to a year for Europe's market for IPOs since 2015, with London leading the charge with 4 IPOs on the Main Market, and two on AIM. Collectively, companies raised €8.4bn in equity across 16 deals, led principally by investors' demand for digital companies who have benefitted from the shift to online trading. One such example is Moonpig, the online card retailer, which raised £491m on its IPO on the London Stock Exchange by way of a new issue of shares and a selldown by existing shareholders. Whilst in Germany, online car dealer Auto1 raised €1.8bn on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, backed principally by SoftBank. 

This positive start to the year will be welcome news for tech and ecommerce companies looking to benefit from the change in consumer spending habits. 

This news also follows BIA's announcement last week that 2020 saw another record year for biotech investment, as we reported on here, suggesting that even in the darkest of times, there are glimmers of hope.