Alexander Lehmann is head of primary markets in the Americas at the London Stock Exchange Group
What were the major themes of your business in 2015?
On the heels of a seven-year high for IPOs in 2014, the Primary Markets business at London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) experienced another strong year in the Americas region -- despite macro-political and economic volatility globally. Overall, there are now over 100 US firms listed on our London markets, with another 60+ across Canada and Latin America. In 2015, LSEG witnessed 11 equity offerings by Americas-based issuers across our different market platforms, raising over US$1.4bb including seven IPOs and four follow-ons. Across our issuers, we saw good diversification between fund issuers and corporates, and within the corporate issuers, healthy representation of multiple sectors including technology, healthcare, and natural resources. Notable offerings included a US$154mm IPO for Gabelli Value Plus+ Trust on our Premium Main Market; a US$170mm IPO for PureTech Heath on our Premium Main Market; and a US$101mm IPO for Verseon on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
What are your expectations for 2016?
As the world’s leading financial market, we expect ongoing keen interest from international firms that want access to the wide range investment opportunities available. Subject to market accessibility and investor appetite, we anticipate another strong year in 2016 by Americas-based issuers. In particular, we foresee investor demand for US- and Canada-oriented assets, including both funds and corporates, to be strong, and we believe the issuer supply from the US and Canada in these segments to be vibrant. Issuance from Latin America is likely to be more selective dependent on industry vertical and country. We are also excited about the potential of our ELITE Connect program, a new platform for a wide range of market participants including public companies, investor relations professionals, institutional investors and brokers. ELITE Connect is a unique open access technology that enables the ability to efficiently engage with market participants worldwide and discover global business opportunities. The social network functionality allows users to connect easily and companies to find new investors, streamlining time and costs
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