(01 July 2020 – Europe) European Equity Capital Market (ECM) fees have soared to a two year high, reaching an average of US$2 billion as deal flow accelerates.
Enormous financial pressure has been placed on corporates across Europe as the coronavirus crisis displays no sign of abating. Companies have hurried to raise funds through secondary transactions to cushion the blow. Jointly, East & Partners and Dealogic have collaboratively gathered data on planned ECM activity on a biannual basis. The data shows that UK corporates expect current balance sheet equity to increase by 30 percent over the next 12 months.
“In the early phase of the lockdown we have seen increased activity in recaps and related primary issuance across Europe, but mostly focused in the UK” commented Bank of America Head of EMEA Equity Capital Markets, Samuel Losada.
“Funding has been fundamentally important for business development throughout Europe which has led to significant amounts of ECM activity over recent months” commented East & Partners Europe Market Analyst, Pierre Sokoya.