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Chris Kaoutzanis Discusses Rise of Cross-Border U.S.-Based IPOs With Global Finance Magazine
November 3, 2023
Corporate partner Chris Kaoutzanis spoke with Global Finance Magazine about the steep increase in cross-border IPOs on U.S. exchanges in the last few years. In “The New Competition For Listings,” published on November 3, Chris explains that listing on U.S. stock exchanges offers foreign companies certain advantages compared to listing on European exchanges.
On U.S. stock exchanges including Nasdaq and the NYSE, which get the lion’s share of listings, it’s less common to see high-profile companies suddenly scrap plans to go public. “There are a variety of often-cited business and financial factors, such as better liquidity in the U.S. markets and more attractive valuations spurred by a larger pool of capital,” Chris says.
He notes that U.S. legal rules permit companies to test the waters with institutional investors prior to an IPO. Additionally, most of the regulatory review process is conducted through confidential filings. “Meanwhile, with the separation of the Euronext and the LSE systems in the wake of Brexit, investors appear to face logistical hurdles in trading a certain security at once across all of the largest European stock exchanges.”
Chris also notes that the current lull in overall IPO activity amid the emergence of new platforms and technologies for wealth generation and investment doesn’t mean that there will be a dramatic shift away from stock exchanges anytime soon. “It is more likely that the stock market will evolve to integrate such technologies, such as blockchain, rather than going the way of the dinosaurs,” he says.
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