The number of initial public offerings (IPOs) have been facing a structural decline over the past 20 years, notably for SMEs. Concerns have been raised in relation to the decline of the IPO ecosystem and the impact on SMEs’ access to public equity capital markets.

Well-functioning IPO markets support company financing, promote employment, provide citizens with efficient investment opportunities for their pension needs and ensure resources are allocated to their most productive use, including towards the transition to a sustainable economy.

We believe that appropriate steps to level the playing field between private and public equity markets would be to address the disclosure gap between public and private companies, support EU IPOs via the use of cross-over funds and address the debt/equity bias to encourage companies’ listings.