3
Table 1: Number of IPOs in Germany
|
1983 |
84 |
85 |
86 |
87 |
88 |
89 |
90 |
91 |
92 |
93 |
94 |
95 |
96 |
97 |
98 |
99 |
2000 |
01 |
02* | |
|
Amtlicher |
6 |
11 |
8 |
17 |
9 |
3 |
10 |
11 |
9 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
12 |
6 |
10 |
15 |
30 |
13 |
5 |
1 |
|
Geregelter |
1 |
10 |
4 |
11 |
10 |
12 |
16 |
20 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
4 |
14 |
10 |
11 |
7 |
3 |
|
Freiverkehr |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
8 |
22 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
|
Neuer Markt |
13 |
42 |
113 |
115 |
11 |
1 | ||||||||||||||
|
Total |
11 |
23 |
13 |
29 |
19 |
15 |
28 |
34 |
19 |
9 |
11 |
15 |
20 |
14 |
36 |
79 |
175 |
142 |
26 |
7 |
* Until November 2002
** The Geregelter Markt was introduced in 1987; data until 1987 refer to Geregelter Freiverkehr.
As a first step in trying to understand the “IPO waves” occurring in Germany it is
interesting to note that the level of IPO activities is highly correlated with the conditions in the
stock market. The first “IPO wave” in Germany starting at the beginning of the 1980s and the
second one in the late 1990s took place at times when stock prices were soaring in the USA as
well as in Germany, while the interruptions in 1987, 1991, and 2000 occurred when the stock
market crashed. This is in line with the observations in other countries that IPO activity is highly
cyclical. But apart from increasing stock prices, two other events draw attention in the late 1990s:
in 1996 the IPO of Deutsche Telekom with a volume of nearly € 10,000 million was carried out,
and in 1997 the Neuer Markt was opened at the Frankfurt stock exchange.
The introduction of the Neuer Markt was celebrated as a major innovation for the German
equity market, which consists of two tiers, with two segments in each of the two tiers.4 The first
tier comprises the Amtlicher Handel and the Geregelter Markt. The Amtlicher Handel is the main
stock market segment in which all DAX companies are traded (which is comparable to the
Official List in the UK). The Geregelter Markt was introduced in 1987 as a segment for small
firms, with a lower market capitalization and a lower trade volume.5 The second tier consists of
the Neuer Markt and the Freiverkehr. The Neuer Markt was introduced for young innovative
high-tech (growth) firms. The main differences between the different segments are the stringency
3 The numbers are taken from the DAI-Factbook 2003.
4 See Theissen (2003) for a discussion of recent developments.
5 The Geregelter Markt absorbed most of the firms that were listed on the Geregelter Freiverkehr.