IPO Watch Europe - Q2 2005

July 2005

PricewaterhouseCoopers latest IPO Watch Europe survey - tracking volume and value of IPOs on Europe's main stock exchanges - shows a continuous upward trend in IPO activity in the second quarter of 2005. There were 169 IPOs between 1 April and 30 June, considerably higher than the 95 recorded in the same period of 2004 and the 98 recorded in quarter one of 2005.

The high level of activity drove the total offering value of IPOs up to €10,778m in the second quarter of 2005, a notable increase compared to the €8,728m recorded in the second quarter of 2004 and €6,143m recorded in the first quarter of 2005.

As was the case in the preceding quarter, activity was largely driven by London's smaller companies market, AIM, with a relative lack of individual high value IPOs in the quarter as compared with the second quarter of 2004.

The only IPO to raise over €1bn in the second quarter of 2005 was the online gaming company, PartyGaming which raised €1.4 billion on London. In contrast the same period last year saw three IPOs over €1bn accounting for close to half of the total offering value on all exchanges in that quarter.

The first quarter of 2005 also saw two IPOs over €1bn. Therefore, the continuing market trend for the second quarter of 2005 was for a higher number of IPOs with a lower average offering value - €64m compared with €92m in the same period in 2004.

For a full analysis read the news release