Record year in sight: The biggest IPOs in 2021

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Mister Spex on the IPO in front of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange:

2021 could be the strongest year for the German IPO market since 2000

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Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa

After the corona lull, there could be a record for IPOs in Germany this year.

In the first half of the year, 15 companies ventured onto the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and the third quarter was kicked off last week by the online optician Mister Spex.

In total, the companies collected more than 9.5 billion euros from investors - more than ever since 2000.

The management consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) expects the numbers of 2018 to be exceeded for the full year, when there were 18 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) with a total volume of 11.35 billion euros in Frankfurt am Main.

It was the strongest year so far after the boom on the Neuer Markt of 2000. At that time, 142 IPOs generated more than 23 billion euros.

The top 3 of the year

So far, Vodafone's radio tower division Vantage Towers AG has made the largest German IPO in 2021, with revenues of 2.2 billion euros on its debut.

This surpassed the debut of Auto1 (1.8 billion euros).

Third of the year is software developer Suse, who raised more than one billion euros from investors in May.

The next stock exchange aspirants

Three more IPOs are expected in Frankfurt before the usual summer slump.

The northern Bavarian supplier Novem, specialist in auto trim parts, wants to collect 50 million euros on July 19, including for smaller acquisitions.

The issue volume could rise to more than 300 million euros through the option of topping up the shares.

The Hamburg solar park operator Blue Elephant Energy is hoping for 150 million euros, the muesli mail order company MyMüsli wants to raise around 100 million euros.

More candidates for the second half of the year

At least ten other companies will follow in autumn: the spin-off Daimler truck division, Daimler Truck;

the transmission manufacturer Vitesco, which is to be spun off from the automotive supplier Continental;

the battery manufacturer BMZ, the Berlin owners of the Babbel Lesson Nine language app, the logistics company Trans-o-flex, the auto parts dealer Autodoc and the pharmaceutical manufacturer Cheplapharm.

After the IPO, which was canceled at short notice in April, the Internet car dealer MeinAuto could also make a second attempt.

2022 should also be an exciting year for the stock market: then, prominent names such as Flixmobility, Parship, Check24, Veganz, Wintershall-DEA, Chrono24 and Best Secret want to offer shares on the stock exchange.

The soaring could weaken

The reasons for the booming stock markets are the low interest rates and low yields on bonds.

However, there is also a certain amount of catching up to do after numerous candidates for the stock market put their plans on hold last year, explains PwC partner

Nadja Picard

.

In the meantime, the prospects for stock market candidates are weakening somewhat.

In the second quarter, issue prices were regularly at the lower end of the price range.

In view of the flood of IPOs and the partially disappointing share price development after the debut, investors are becoming significantly more cautious and selective, explains PwC.

Mega IPOs on the world stage

So far, however, the global market is still flourishing.

In the first half of the year, 980 companies around the world dared to go public, as the IPO barometer of the consulting firm EY shows.

The issue volume was $ 197.8 billion.

With revenues of $ 4.4 billion, Uber competitor Didi launched the largest tech issue and the largest IPO of a Chinese company in the United States in seven years at the end of June.

At that time, the online giant Alibaba had made $ 25 billion.

The world's largest IPO in 2021 took place in Hong Kong, according to EY: The short video platform Kuaishou Technology raised 6.2 billion US dollars in February.

Before the end of the year, however, the front runner could be surpassed: The Chinese securities regulator has accepted the monster IPO of the agrochemical company Syngenta in Shanghai.

It is said to bring in around 10 billion US dollars.

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