--- title: AFME Equity Primary Markets And Trading Report Q1 2021 ​ description: IPOs had the largest quarterly amount of proceeds since the fourth quarter of 2015. image: https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/warsaw-stock-exchange-aims-to-continue-ipos-May-12-2022-09-31-32-95-AM.jpg --- ![websites-group](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/new-MMG-01.svg) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-new-marketsmedia-logo.svg)](https://www.marketsmedia.com/) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-menu-traders-redlogo.svg)](https://www.tradersmagazine.com/) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-menu-bestexe-logo.svg)](https://www.bestexecution.net/) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-menu-fidesk-logo.svg)](https://www.fixglobal.com/) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-fixglobal-new-logo.svg)](https://www.fixglobal.com/) - [*Facebook*](https://www.facebook.com/MarketsMedia/) - [*Twitter*](https://twitter.com/marketsmedia) - [*Linkedin*](https://www.linkedin.com/company/markets-media-llc) - [Newsletter](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/afme-equity-primary-markets-and-trading-report-q1-2021-#popup-newsletter) #### Want the latest news on securities markets -- FREE? 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The report provides an update on the performance of the equity market in Europe in activities such as primary issuance, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), trading, and equity valuations **Key highlights:** - **Large increase in equity capital raising:** Equity underwriting on European exchanges rose 153% YoY, consolidating a robust recovery after the COVID-19 outbreak. IPOs rose by 18x year-on-year (YoY) with the largest quarterly amount of proceeds since Q4 2015. - **Completed Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) **of European companies totalled €275.2bn in Q1 2021a 43% increase from the amount completed in Q1 2020 (€192.7bn). The amount of announced M&A totalled €311.4bn in Q1 2021 a 51% increase from €205.8bn in Q1 2020. - **Special Feature: European SPACs in numbers. **Pages 11-14 present some illustrative statistics about the recent growth of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) IPOs on European exchanges and announced M&A transactions by SPACs in Europe (i.e. De-SPACs). SPAC IPOs have represented 8.8% of total European IPOs in 2021YtD (vs. 61.8% of the total in the US). De-SPAC acquisitions have represented 10% of the total announced M&A volume in Europe (vs 22% of the total in the US). Of these announced acquisitions, 89% are De-SPACs of US-headquartered SPACs, representing a total of EUR 33.3bn in deal value. - **Average daily equity trading activity **on European main markets and MTFs stood at €71.6bn in Q1 2021, 16% below the average daily value observed in Q1 2020 (€85.7bn). - **Bid-ask spreads for selected European equity indices **continued to decline during Q1 2021, reaching most recently pre-pandemic levels**.** - **Double Volume Cap (DVC) update: **The number of instruments banned from dark trading has recently increased to 250 at the EU or trading venue level as of May 2021 (from 205 in Dec-20). Source: AFME [Share](https://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://articles.marketsmedia.com/afme-equity-primary-markets-and-trading-report-q1-2021-) [Tweet](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=US+ETFs+Have+Record+Net+Inflows&url=https://articles.marketsmedia.com/afme-equity-primary-markets-and-trading-report-q1-2021-) [Share](https://www.linkedin.com/cws/share?url=https://articles.marketsmedia.com/afme-equity-primary-markets-and-trading-report-q1-2021-) ![email](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/Markets%20Media/email.svg) ### NEWSLETTER SIGN UP And receive exclusive articles on securities markets ### Related articles 1. 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