AFME is pleased to circulate its Equity Primary Markets and Trading Report for the second quarter of 2021 (Q2 2021). The report provides an update on the performance of the equity market in Europe in activities such as primary issuance, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), trading, and equity valuations.

Key highlights:

• Equity underwriting on European exchanges rose 70% in H1 2021 compared to H1 2020 and 108% compared to H1 2019.
  • IPOs rose by 7.5x year-on-year (YoY) with the largest H1 amount of proceeds since 2015.
  • SPAC IPOs represented 15% of total European IPOs in Q2 2021 (vs. 22% of the total in the US during the same quarter).
  • In Q2 2021, equity issuance on Jr exchanges reached a quarterly record amount of €7.7bn in proceeds.
• Completed Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) of European companies totalled €523.9bn in H1 2021, a 50% increase from H1 2020 and a 20% increase from H1 2019.
  • Announced M&A totalled €622.2bn in H1 2021, a 99% increase from H1 2020 and 56.4% increase compared to H1 2019.
  • De-SPAC acquisitions represented 6% of the total announced M&A volume in Europe in Q2 2021 (vs 16% of the total in the US).
• Average daily equity trading activity on European main markets and MTFs stood at €68.2bn in H1 2021, 7% below the average daily observed in H1 2020.
• Double Volume Cap (DVC) update: the number of instruments banned from dark trading has recently increased to 307 at the EU or trading venue level as of July 2021 (from 205 in Dec-20).