AFME is pleased to circulate its Equity Primary Markets and Trading Report for the fourth quarter of 2021 (Q4 2021) and 2021 full year.

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), equity liquidity structure, and market valuations.

Key findings:

• Equity underwriting on European exchanges rose 29% in 2021 compared to 2020 and 94% vs 2019.

The increase was driven by an exceptional year for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), with the highest annual issued amount since 2007. Private Equity (PE) exits via IPOs represented 35% of the year total, with a record high for PE-backed IPOs.

SPAC IPOs reached €7.4bn in 2021, representing 11% of total IPO volume (3% in 2020).

• Completed Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) exhibited the highest deal value amount since 2007, with record outbound purchases by European companies and record PE-backed acquisitions.

De-SPAC acquisitions represented 5% of the total announced M&A volume in Europe in 2021 (2% in 2020).

• Average daily equity trading activity on European main markets and MTFs stood at €87.2bn in 2021, 5% below the average daily observed in 2020.
• Double Volume Cap (DVC) update: The number of instruments suspended under the DVC has recently increased to 644 in January 2022 (from 205 in Dec-20) with 242 new suspensions identified only in January 2022.
• European equity trading mix: According to BigXYT data, on-venue trading represented 72% of the total addressable liquidity in Q4 2021. Volume traded off-venues, on systematic internalisers and pure OTC, represent the remaining 28% of the volume of the total addressable liquidity.
• Domestic market capitalisation of European listed shares stood at €17.2tn at the end of December 2021, a 21% increase from €14.2 at the end of 2020.