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IFR IPO Roundtable 2011

Being an ECM banker in the European region has been a chastening experience in 2011. After a tough 2010, banks entered the New Year with pipelines bulging with IPO candidates. As 2011 comes to an end those pipelines are still fat with promise from sadly having delivered little. IPOs totalling US$36bn priced in EMEA in 2011, but deals set to raise US$26bn launched and cancelled. And that doesn’t take into account the many deals that never even got off the starting blocks. The macroeconomic environment has not been helpful, and the volatility has...Read more

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IFR IPO Roundtable 2011: Participants

Ute Gerbaulet Commerzbank Corporates & Markets Ute Gerbaulet is head of Equity Capital Markets at Commerzbank focused on advising mid- and large- cap customers in Germany and Europe on all their equity-related needs. Ute has 17 years’ experience in investment banking and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Reinout Koopmans Jefferies Reinout Koopmans joined Jefferies as co-head of European Equity Capital Markets in September 2011, with 16 years of investment banking experience. He joined from Deutsche Bank, where he spent 10 years and was...

IFR IPO Roundtable: Part 1

IFR: Whichever seat you are in, it has not been an easy year on the IPO side. What are your initial thoughts on the European IPO market? DANIEL OAKES, COMMERZBANK: One of the recurring themes is how Europe has fared versus the US and Asia, in terms of opportunities and post-IPO performance. It is interesting today to see that Ducati and Graff are both looking at Hong Kong as a possible listing venue, despite both being European-domiciled corporates. Some key questions are: Why is it that European IPOs have had generally lacklustre performance...

IFR IPO Roundtable: Part 2

IFR: Isn’t it fair to say that the hair on some of the transactions has been obvious earlier on? Everyone went into Ocado with their eyes open, and Pandora took forensic accounting in order to build historical results. So is it always a surprise? LEACH: The markets tell you they were a surprise. When the markets drop a lot, it is by definition a surprise because otherwise the market would know already. You have to take risk in investments. Part of our job is to take calculated risks. What we don’t like is when there is something that should...

IFR IPO Roundtable: Part 3

IFR: Sometimes it can be very clear from the pre-marketing what price an issuer is aiming for, and there is no room for negotiation. How much of an impact does that have on your engagement in the process? OAKES: And to what extent will you be happy to be an anchor investor in that situation, knowing that the top end of a range may include an ambitious element? LEACH: Clearly more companies are focused on selling their IPO at fair value than at a discount to fair value than in the past few years. We want that discount because that is where we...

IFR IPO Roundtable: Part 4

IFR: We often hear bankers say there is a lack of conviction in investment decisions, which is demonstrated by the discrepancy between the book at pricing versus the performance in the aftermarket, and where the turnover has been. LAW: That might be an allocation issue. LEACH:: There are thousands of investors in IPOs and lots of them are only interested in momentum. But I think the target shareholders that you want in an IPO for a growth company will not care about the momentum in a book if they see a deal they like in a quality asset at a...