European ECM professionals are harbouring optimism of a partial reopening of the continent’s IPO market before the traditional summer break, with a focus on mid-cap IPOs that have a strong local following, market participants told the ECM Pulse.

The continent’s new listings market has been effectively shuttered since a ramp up in trade hostilities between the US and its major trading partners, culminating in in the introduction of universal global tariffs on all US imports on 2 April by US President Donald Trump.

Most of the marquee names in the pipe, some of which were originally scheduled to price around Easter, are not expected until the opening of the traditional autumn window in September.

But there are a handful of smaller listings, with a strong regional following, that might just be able to get across the line in more volatile markets.

Volatility indices, while lower than they were at the beginning of April, are still too high for many larger IPO issuers. Dealogic’s IPO health index for EMEA, which analyses the IPO market through several inputs, including deal volumes and IPO aftermarket performance, remains in the doldrums.

Source: Dealogic

But deals that are smaller, thus requiring less demand to get over the line, and perhaps have niche local stories, are more likely to succeed than larger transactions which require hundreds of lines of investors in the book.

On 10 April MHA plc priced a GBP 95.08m IPO on London’s AIM exchange and has traded up since listing.

The first continental listing out the gates post-Easter is Pfisterer, the German energy infrastructure company, which announced an intention to float in Frankfurt on 24 April.

The company is seeking primary proceeds of EUR 100m with an unannounced secondary share sale on top. The deal is being run by Berenberg and Commerzbank as global coordinators and LBBW is a bookrunner.

The deal falls precisely into the sort of strong local story that market participants speaking to ECM Pulse think might work in a more difficult market.

“Local mid-cap IPO stories might be ok in this market. Less investors are needed and they can rely on some of that domestic demand,” said an ECM investor. In general, the IPO environment for small or mid-cap listings is not great, but is manageable, especially in good markets like Nordics and Germany, the investor said.

Germany has also done well, in terms of equity performance, and there is still some underlying equity flows into Europe and people shifting portfolios there, the investor added.

An ECM banker agreed with the assessment on the profile required to price a successful IPO before the market breaks for summer.

“We are hearing that there is now a market for smaller IPOs that are more regional, and I think people tend to like that; there are several continental mid-caps where we hear investors are comfortable buying,” he said.

The banker agreed with the investor that the likely hotspots of this activity would be the Nordics and Germany given strong local investment stories.

“There are plenty of good businesses in the Nordics and there is a very strong local investor base there that supports regional businesses,” the banker said. “It tends to be a good leading indicator for the rest of the market if we see deals pick up there.”

Last week this news service reported that Nodica Group AB, the Swedish supplier of power electronics and pulsed power subsystems, plans to relaunch its postponed IPO in the second half of the year, dependent on market conditions.

In Germany, the CEO of Apollo-backed auto parts marketplace Autodoc also publicly stated last week that the company would like to list in Frankfurt before the summer break and, as previously reported by this news service, German medical devices firm BrainLab was on track for a June IPO before market volatility spiked in April.

A source close to that deal noted that, despite market volatility, all options remain on the table.

Responding to a request for comment, a Brainlab spokesperson stated the company is keeping all options open to support long-term growth and maximize shareholder value, with no decision made yet.

Larger deals targeted after summer

While mid-cap IPO activity will bring some cheer to the new listing market, larger deals are far more likely in the traditional European autumn IPO window.

Possible names include German pharmaceutical company Stada, which had been aiming for a pre-Easter IPO, Dutch telecommunications company Odido, and Swiss security systems firm Verisure.

“All the big activity is still scheduled for the second half,” said the ECM banker. “We still are on track with those deals, and we have had a lot of conversations on the buyside on early looks which have been encouraging.”

A second banker also confirmed that they were hoping for a busy 2H25, if market volatility allows for larger deals to return.

But the whole market is aware that this is not the same environment as many expected at the start of 2025. There will be a need to derisk larger transactions as much as possible by effectively building a shadow book before launch and leaning on large anchors or, in some cases, even named cornerstones, to give IPOs as much chance of success as possible.

“We absolutely need anchors in this market and that is something we are making clear in all our pitches and discussions with issuers,” said the first banker. “That allows you to build an effective shadow book and essentially cover it before launch. It is something we think works very well, particularly in these sorts of conditions.”