European equity capital markets (ECM) professionals are pinning their hopes on a successful IPO for Blackstone-owned gaming company Cirsa to end a disappointing IPO window with a bang.

Cirsa closes its books today, Monday 7 July, with the stock expected to start trading in Spain on Wednesday 9 July. A successful deal and the stock trading up would provide some cheer after a bad few weeks for Europe’s IPO market.

There have been two recent high-profile European cancellations, in the form of German firms Autodoc and Brainlab, while Sweden’s Hacksaw traded below its IPO price.

Cirsa’s IPO syndicate, led by Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley, sent a message on Friday 4 July, that books were multiple times oversubscribed at the fixed offer price of EUR 15 a share.

The IPO price translates to a market capitalisation of EUR 2.5bn, a steep discount to other listed gaming businesses, like Italy’s Lottomatica or Entain.

The deal is also far smaller than people had thought. A source close to the deal said that earlier in the year investors had largely expected a deal size over EUR 700m with previous reports suggesting a size of over EUR 1bn.

Instead, Blackstone has sized the IPO at EUR 521m, the majority made up of a EUR 400m primary offering. A less ambitious offering caters to a more selective and risk-averse investor base.

Source: Dealogic

“We are very supportive of this one,” said one investor. “Blackstone has taken a lot of market feedback into account on both size and price.”

The investor added that the European IPO market needed a win after the cancellation of both Autodoc and Brainlab, which also both went to the final day of bookbuild with seemingly strong messages. The deals were both cancelled regardless.

But a strong result for Blackstone would at least show that European IPOs can still be executed efficiently and that the market is working, before a big deal window from September.

Big deals ahead

A strong finish for the European IPO market would be a boon before investors depart for their traditional August holidays, especially as most in the market expect the IPO window to open quickly for far larger listings in September.

The Swedish IPO of security solutions business Verisure, alongside the potential German listing of ISS STOXX and Ottobock, have been reported by this news service as deals to watch for the rest of the year.

This news service has also reported on potential listings for pharmaceutical company Stada, which had been aiming for a pre-Easter IPO, Dutch telecommunications company Odido, and SMG Swiss Marketplace Group (SMG), before the end of 2025.

“Let’s see what happens with the overall market,” the investor said, adding that European equities remained “surprisingly resilient,” to wider geopolitical pressures.

While ECM bankers, investors and sources close to all these deals, have previously expressed optimism over the strength of the IPO market for their businesses in the last few months of 2025, pressure on overall equities remains a concern.

The threat of global trade tensions continues to loom over equities, as has been the case since US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs were announced at the beginning of April.

On the morning of Monday 7 July, markets were attempting to digest a Trump announcement that the US would begin to send letters to various trade partners on new tariff rates which would come into effect on 1 August.

He outlined tariffs of up to 70% for some countries with a baseline of 10% to 20%.

Trump also took to social media to issue a threat to BRIC nations, a bloc whose acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India, and China but has now been expanded to other nations, and other countries of an additional 10% tariff on all their goods, on top of other US trade penalties, if they align with the anti-American” policies of the bloc.

The threat comes after the bloc recently met and issued statements that included criticism of Trump’s tariff policies and the US’s recent attacks on Iran.

The US president’s response showed his willingness to use economic penalties to impose geopolitical pressure on other nations, a threat that could loom for some time.

Europe’s equity capital markets had been recovering from April’s trade shock. Issuers will need to stay cognisant of more volatility if Trump launches any more sucker punches in the weeks ahead.