A SPACtacular year
It has been called a ‘dream year’, the year 2021. Not only the Brexit was good for Amsterdam, the number of IPOs also reached great heights. No fewer than twenty-five new funds made their debut on Beursplein 5. Together, they raised almost €80 billion. This is a record because never before has so much money been raised in one year by IPOs. It was not without reason that the AEX index broke record after record and reached its highest ever (for the time being) level in November: 827.57 points. All the more reason to be happy, especially as it was also a year during which the economy struggled with major problems due to the pandemic. The Amsterdam stock exchange was one of the best in the world.
(more…)
Brigade-M3: 16th SPAC in Amsterdam
Brigade-M3 European Acquisition Company has earned €250 million with its IPO. With that, Brigade-M3, the 16th SPAC in Amsterdam this year, wants to acquire a company that has responded well to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Update: Brigade M3 has failed to find a merger partner and will be wound up after returning approximately the invested amounts in June 2023.
Pegasus: 15th SPAC in Amsterdam
After Bernard Arnault, together with an associate, listed Pegasus Acquisition on the stock exchange in April, he is listing a second SPAC on Beursplein 5 today. Pegasus Entrepreneurial Acquisition Company Europe has an almost identical name and, as the 15th SPAC this year, has earned €210 million. With this amount, the SPAC wants to acquire a fast-growing company with European headquarters.
Update: Following a merger, entertainment company FL Entertainment took over the listing of Pegasus Entrepreneurial on 1 July 2022.
EPIC: 14th SPAC in Amsterdam
Almost three weeks after the introduction of EHC, EPIC Acquisition Corp becomes the 14th SPAC this year on the Amsterdam stock exchange. With the IPO, EPC has earned €150 million. With that amount, EPIC wants to merge with a company that trades in consumer goods in Europe and has growth potential in Asia.
EHC: 13th SPAC in Amsterdam
European Healthcare Acquisition & Growth Company (EHC) debuts as the 13th SPAC on the Amsterdam stock exchange today. . EHC has earned an amount of €200 million with the IPO and wants to use this money to acquire one or more companies in the European healthcare industry.
Highest position AEX index
After the AEX index broke a 20-year old record on 1 April 2021 and passed the 800-points mark in September, today, the stock exchange index reached its highest level ever: 827.57.
SPEAR: 12th SPAC in Amsterdam
Today, SPEAR Investments I has become the 12th SPAC this year in Amsterdam. Successful Partners in Europe for Acceleration Returns (SPEAR) has earned €175 million during its debut and is now looking to acquire “companies with strong foundations and technology that are focused on innovation and change.”
Italian software company goes public
Italian software company MotorK is listed on Beursplein 5. The manufacturer of sales software for car dealers has earned €75 million with the IPO , much less than the previously envisioned €500 million. This is illustrative of the difficult situation the IPO market has recently found itself in. Ebusco also suffered from this during its recent debut and Coolblue even cancelled its IPO. What also doesn’t help in MotorK’s case is that the IPO in Amsterdam was mainly prompted by the recent accession of the Milan Stock Exchange to Euronext, and that it is therefore not well known in the Netherlands.
Electric buses on Beursplein 5
Ebusco, the manufacturer of electric buses and charging systems, is making its debut on the Amsterdam stock exchange. The company is based in Deurne and currently has electric buses driving around Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Munich. The IPO will earn them €300 million for further growth. This will be achieved by issuing new shares which will be placed primarily with institutional investors. It is noteworthy that this listing is accompanied by a physical gong reception for the first time in a long time.
Medical technology company goes public
Medical technology company ONWARD Medical NV is to be listed on the Euronext stock exchanges in Amsterdam and Brussels. The Swiss-Dutch company, based in Lausanne and Eindhoven, has developed a system that will help people with a transverse aphasia to walk again by means of implants and electronic stimuli in the spinal cord. The goal of the IPO, which will be based on the issuing of new shares, is to finance new research. A total of €86.5 million will be available for this after the first day on the stock exchange.
11th SPAC to go public
Today, without any significant media attention, the Amsterdam stock exchange has welcomed this year’s 11th SPAC: Disruptive Capital Acquisition Company (DCACS). Remarkably, the listing will take place in Pounds Sterling, as the company aims to accommodate prospective investors from the UK. DCACS is an initiative of a financial institution with (nearly) the same name, which is based on the British channel island of Guernsey. The IPO is worth £125 million, which DCACS intends to use for the acquisition of a financial service provider in Northern or Western Europe.
(more…)
Luxembourg call centre company goes public
Three days after French media conglomerate Vivendi listed a unit on the Amsterdam stock exchange, German media group Bertelsmann is doing the same. The media group is having a difficult year and has therefore decided to sell part of its 50 percent interest in Majorel, the call centre company from Luxembourg, and to cash in. The Moroccan Elalamy family, which holds the other half of the shares, has done the same. The IPO of Majorel, which employs over sixty thousand people in 31 countries and operates telephone customer services and call centres for large companies, generated a revenue of €3.3 billion despite a fall in the share price on the first day of trading.
AEX index breaks through 800 barrier
After an almost continuous flow of new records since 1 April 2021, the AEX index has reached a new milestone: breaking through the 800 barrier for the first time. In addition to the AEX index recently reaching that level intraday, today, the main index closed above it for the first time at 800.61. The index began this year at 624 points, which is an increase of more than 28 percent. The increase is mainly due to the rise in the share price of ASML.
Pop music back on Beursplein 5
Universal Music Group (UMG), one of the largest music companies in the world, will be listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange today. Vivendi, the Paris-based parent company of UMG, is the initiator of the IPO. With this demerger, the French media conglomerate is trying to realise a better valuation of UMG. And the results speak for themselves: the IPO has been a great success with immediate substantial share price increases and a total market value of more than €45 billion after the first trading day.
(more…)
New options exchange in Amsterdam
Today, Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) will open a new derivatives exchange in Amsterdam. The official name is CEDX, which stands for Cboe European Derivatives Exchange. It’s an exchange where investors can trade options and futures contracts for example on ‘own’ variants of the main indices of the stock exchanges in London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam. Cboe’s move cannot be seen separately from the relocation of much of the share trade to Amsterdam as a result of the Brexit. Nor can it be seen separately from the move of Cboe itself to the capital.
(more…)
10th SPAC this year
The popularity of SPACS is at an all-time high today. On the same day that VAM Investments comes to Beursplein 5, another SPAC called Energy Transition Partners (ENTP) – the tenth this year – also makes a ‘silent’ debut on the Amsterdam stock exchange. The initiator is a former chairman of the board of British oil company BP. The €175 million in raised capital is intended for the acquisition of an energy company from the European Union, the United Kingdom or Switzerland that is active in the field of energy transition.
Italian SPAC goes public
Two weeks after the arrival of New Amsterdam Invest, the ninth SPAC this year, VAM Investments SPAC, has made a relatively quiet appearance on the Amsterdam stock exchange. This time it is an Italian initiative, which may be related to the Milan Stock Exchange recently joining the Euronext group. The IPO will generate an amount of €225 million. The purpose of this capital is to invest in companies in the consumer and service industry in the European Union, the United Kingdom or Switzerland.
Real estate SPAC goes public
Today, four days after the arrival of Odyssey, New Amsterdam Invest, a Dutch SPAC that focuses on real estate, made an appearance on Beursplein 5. The eighth SPAC of the year will earn more than €49 million, which it wants to use to buy a stake in a commercial real estate company in Europe or the United States that is attractive to investors.
Update: Following a merger with real estate fund Sommerset, the real estate fund will take over the listing of the eponymous SPAC in June 2023 under the new name New Amsterdam Invest.
SPAC Odyssey goes public
The SPAC craze continues. Two days after the arrival of CTCA 1, Odyssey Acquisition S.A. has been listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange in relative silence. It is already the seventh SPAC in Amsterdam this year. Odyssey is based in Luxembourg and is raising a total of €300 million to focus on the acquisition of companies in the healthcare, technology, media and telecom industries.
Update: Following a merger, UK medicine developer BenevolentAI took over Odyssey’s listing on 25 April 2022.
‘Green’ SPAC on the stock exchange
Today, one week after the IPO of Crystal Peak Acquisition, the Amsterdam stock exchange welcomes the sixth SPAC this year: Climate Transition Capital Acquisition 1 (CTCA 1). CTCA 1 will raise €190 million with this IPO. The aim is to accelerate the European energy transition by bringing together public capital and green companies.
Update: Climate Transition has failed to find a merger partner and will be wound up after returning approximately the invested amounts in June 2023.
IPO of 5th SPAC of 2021
Following the arrival of Hedosophia, Crystal Peak Acquisition is yet another British SPAC listed on the stock exchange that focuses on the acquisition of a tech company. This is the fifth SPAC to be listed in Amsterdam this year. Once again, the IPO will take place without any significant publicity. The IPO will raise $150 million. The goal is to use this capital to take over a company from Europe, the Middle East or Africa that focuses on cloud services or fintech and, in doing so, to gain access to the stock exchange.
(more…)
Water purification company on the stock exchange
NX Filtration, a sustainable water purification company that emerged from the University of Twente, will be listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange today. The business model is based on ground-breaking technology to rid water and drinks of bacteria, viruses and other contaminants. One of its current customers is beer brewery Grolsch, but in principle, this opens up the possibility for offering clean drinking water all over the world.
(more…)
British SPAC quietly goes public
Two weeks after the arrival of the French Pegasus, the fourth SPAC of 2021 has made an appearance on the Amsterdam stock exchange today. Hedosophia European Growth has raised €460 million with the IPO, which it wants to use to acquire and list a European technology company in the next two years. As the British initiators prefer to stay out of the media, the IPO took place in relative silence and lacked the usual gong ceremony.
(more…)
Takeover of Milan stock exchange
After it had already become clear in October 2020 that Euronext had settled the battle with Deutsche Börse and the Swiss SIX in its favour, Euronext has finalised its acquisition of the Milan Stock Exchange today. The acquisition is worth over €4.4 billion. Borsa Italiana was acquired from LSE, which had to give it up because of the European Commission in order to limit its market power.
(more…)
SPAC richest man in France goes public
Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France and Europe, is, together with his business partners, bringing Pegasus Acquisition Company Europe, a new SPAC, to the Amsterdam stock exchange today. After EFIC1, this is the third blank cheque company that applies for investment capital on Beursplein 5 this year.
(more…)
Spanish fintech company goes public
The arrival of the Spanish company Allfunds means that the Amsterdam stock exchange has gained yet another fintech company. Allfunds operates a digital platform, which is used by more than 100,000 investment funds, to link investors to fund managers.
(more…)
New record AEX index
Today, after 21 years, the AEX index, the main index of the Amsterdam stock exchange, has broken the record of 701.56, registered on 4 September 2000, and reached a new high of 708.43. The new milestone was achieved primarily thanks to well-performing tech stocks, which are increasingly playing a role in the composition of the index.
IPO of ‘Fintech’ SPAC
Following the recent IPO of ESG Core Investments, the second SPAC of 2021 will be listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange today. We are talking about EFIC1, which, with €415 million in capital raised today, aims to list a fintech company within two years. This goal is also reflected in the full name: European Fintech IPO Company 1, that the initiators – who all have a background in the financial sector – have given the new SPAC.
(more…)
Hall builder CTP goes public
Prague-based Central Trade Park (CTP) is making its stock market debut in Amsterdam. CTP is a builder of business parks and logistics halls in countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. The company’s clients include C&A and Primark. The main goal of the IPO is to raise money for further growth in Central and Eastern Europe and to expand into Western Europe, including the Netherlands, the country of origin of the founder and also the location of CTP’s parent company. To this end, 60 million new shares will be issued among institutional investors. After the first day of trading, these will account for approximately €850 million in new capital.
The bull is back on the Beursplein
After a necessary repair, the famous bronze statue of the bull has returned to the entrance of the Amsterdam stock exchange. The bull, which was secretly placed there in 2012 by Italian-American artist Arturo di Modica (1941-2021), broke a leg at the end of 2019. The returned sculpture is a replica of the ‘Charging Bull’ which the artist placed at the New York Stock Exchange in secret in 1989.
(more…)
ESG SPAC listing
After the earlier listings of DSCO and DSCT, the first SPAC of 2021 will make its appearance on the Amsterdam stock exchange today. ESG Core Investments has raised approximately €250 million with the IPO and will be looking for a company with a strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) profile. Or, in other words, for a company that stands out and distinguishes itself by its socially responsible way of doing business. The initiator is Infestos, the investment company of Bernard ten Doeschot, who previously listed Alfen.
(more…)
Amsterdam: early winner after Brexit
Amsterdam appears to have surpassed London in the month of January as Europe’s largest trading centre for shares. Per day, an average of €9.2 billion in shares was traded, more than four times as much as last December. Conversely, London fell from an average daily volume of €14.6 billion to €8.6 billion over the same two months.
(more…)
Polish company listed on Amsterdam stock exchange
InPost, a Polish company that offers fully automated lockers from which consumers can collect parcels, will be listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange today. The current owner, American venture capitalist Advent is bringing 500 million existing shares to the stock exchange, which is about 35 percent of their total. Bij de beursgang worden geen nieuwe aandelen uitgegeven. InPost is not (yet) active on the Dutch market. The choice for the IPO on the Damrak is inspired by the low ‘threshold’ that applies for this type of listing in Amsterdam and the fact that several technology companies are already listed there.
