During the first half of 2008 a total of 57 new companies made their debut on the markets organised by the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The total value of those offerings exceeded PLN 7.4 billion. 23 companies, including 3 foreign-based, were floated on the Main List, selling their securities for PLN 7.3 billion whereas 34 companies opted for NewConnect. The value of offerings on this alternative trading platform exceeded PLN 122 million, and PLN 120 million of this sum represented new share issues, intended to fuel growth of the newly listed companies.
Primary Market
Although the market sentiment on world exchanges was less favourable than a year earlier, the IPO market in Warsaw continued to grow dynamically. In the course of the last year 32 companies made their debuts on the WSE (Main List only; NewConnect was launched on 30 August 2007). With regard to the number of IPOs, Warsaw’s trading floor now ranks among Europe’s leaders. According to the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the Warsaw Stock Exchange ranks second in Europe in this category.
Until the end of May (most recent data) a total of 172 companies were listed on Europe’s trading floors, and nearly 30 per cent of that number chose the WSE. During this period, 47 companies debuted on the Warsaw bourse. Only the London Stock Exchange attracted more flotations (81). The third participant in the ranking, OMX (grouping Baltic and Scandinavian SE) can only report 11 debuts during the same period.
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