Following the release of the European Commission’s Green Paper on the Capital Markets Union, Philippe de Backer MEP and Chairman of the European IPO Task Force today announces the publication of the EU IPO Report: Rebuilding IPOs in Europe; Creating jobs and growth in European capital markets.

The Task Force brings together experts from across the EU with direct knowledge and experience of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) who together agreed on key recommendations on how to improve this key component of Europe’s capital markets.

Philippe de Backer MEP, Chairman of the Task Force said:

“The European IPO markets need to work better for the real economy.  Although Europe continues to build and grow businesses with the potential to be world class the failure of the IPO market to facilitate their access to capital hampers their growth and ultimately their potential to create jobs. In order  to deliver a Capital Markets Union in Europe that can provide more diverse funding sources for companies and cut the cost of raising capital, notably for smaller companies, we need policymakers, regulators, and industry to work together to deliver reforms to regulation, to the tax regime, and to market practices that will make IPO funding through the public markets accessible to all European companies”.

The IPO Task Force specifically identified 5 key areas for reform:

–             Create a more balanced and flexible regulatory environment for small and mid-cap quoted companies, also known as “Emerging Growth Companies”;

–             Ease constraints that restrict investors’ access to IPO markets and to invest in venture capital / private equity;

–             Improve the market ecosystem to better serve companies at different stage of growth and different types of investors;

–             Create an equity culture in Europe, including education and non-legislative initiatives;

–             Improve tax incentives for investment into IPOs and in equity more generally.