This week is atypical on the Spanish stock market. Several IPOs coincide. This Friday, Cox is expected to start trading, which would make two companies that would make the jump to the stock market after the departure of Inmocemento last Tuesday. These first two are added to the one in which Puig played at the beginning of May and will make 2024 the first year since 2017 in Spain there will be more IPOs than delistings. In other words, for the first time in seven years, there will be more company arrivals than departures.
In 2024 there will be new listings, but also others that will cease to be listed. One company (Opdenergy) has already been withdrawn from the stock market and another (Applus) received approval from the regulator a few days ago regarding the exclusion takeover bid launched for 100% of the capital. So the year could end with two fewer companies in the main market.
These movements would leave a positive balance for the Spanish stock market this year, symbolically breaking a sequence that has sounded all the alarms in the sector. THE lack of IPOs worries not only to the market operator (BME, now owned by the Swiss group SIX), but also to the stock market supervisor (the National Securities Market Commission, CNMV) and to the entire sector which encourages urgently financing by the capital market. The resumption of activity constitutes a significant challenge for the years to come, where exclusions will continue to occur. This is what BME expressed in a White paper which was presented in 2024 in which it proposed 56 possible solutions to prevent the Spanish market from competing on an equal footing with Europe. It is true that this is a problem that also arises in other European countries, and the ultimate challenge is even greater since it involves facing competition from the United States and the fact that some companies prefer to be listed there.
The protagonists
The three companies launching in 2024 are a small breath of fresh air (all without including the smaller value operations in BME Growth). Helmsman will take advantage of the home stretch of the year this Friday to ring the bell on the floor of the Madrid Stock Exchange. The energy infrastructure and water treatment group delayed its debut by a day and was forced to reduce the initial offer and start its stock exchange at the lowest expected price, with a a capitalization which slightly exceeds 800 million euros.
Immediately It was advanced this week, culminating its placement with its stock market debut last Tuesday. The signature, the spin-off of the real estate and cement activity of the construction company FCC, began its activities with a capitalization of 1,933 million euros after having achieved a registration (without launching any IPO or capital increase). Since then, Its shares fell more than 18%.
But if there is one company that has given hope to the Spanish market, it is Puig. Perfumery specializing in high-end beauty Not only is this the largest IPO in Spain since 2015, but it is also the largest to date the biggest debut in all of Europe. Its large size and liquidity allowed it to access the Ibex 35 just two months after its debut. It now occupies the 17th position in the index by capitalization, despite the fact that its shares have fallen 21% from the offer price.
They haven’t reached a good port
However, the year could have been much more intense in terms of this type of operations. There were more candidates on the calendar. Companies that were working to go public and ultimately delayed or canceled the listing indefinitely. Europasseriefor example, had everything almost ready for its October 10 debut. However, the manufacturer of frozen bakery products was unable to close the operation and canceled it a second time despite reducing the initial size of the offer, justifying the cancellation “in view of the international geopolitical situation , which produces deep instability in the country. the markets”, while indicating that it will continue “to evaluate the possibility of an IPO when the market situation allows it”.
A few months earlier, in April, Bergé, investment holding company of Astaraalso alluded to “market conditions” to abort the mobility company’s IPO after recruiting different banks for the operation.
And we must not forget one of the most anticipated companies on the Spanish stock exchange for a long time due to its size. Tendam The group, which owns brands like Pedro del Hierro, Springfield and Women’Secret, announced in June that it was ending its debut without officially presenting its intention to do so (through what is called ITF). This document was already ready for publication, along with the investment banks – BNP Paribas, Citi and JP Morgan – signed on. But the company decided to postpone the operation until after the summer. However, Jaume Miquel, president of Tendam, assured in the IV Forum Retail and mass consumption organized by elEconomista.es that, even if the company is ready to go public, it will not do so until market conditions are optimal. “For new companies, there is a lot of uncertainty, with rates that have not yet fallen sufficiently and with a debt market that remains attractive. American capital is more reluctant to invest, not to mention the geopolitical situation and elections in the United States,” he said. argued.
