![]() ![]() One result of those efforts is a pan-European programme launched last summer called the Euronext Tech Leaders initiative, in collaboration with Bpifrance and several other financial institutions across Europe. So to boost its home IPO market, part of France’s strategy is to enlist a coalition of European partners. While Euronext officially has seven regions where companies can list - Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Oslo and Milan - it is effectively a single stock exchange under the hood. In response, last year the French government launched a flurry of programmes in partnership with the Euronext stock exchange designed to address these weaknesses. In addition, too many of the tech stocks are companies that held an IPO extremely early, leaving them with low and volatile valuations that hurt the sector’s credibility with investors. These shortcomings include the lack of large investment funds that target tech stocks in Paris and the limited level of research coverage they offer, a constraint caused by the limited number of tech stocks that trade on the exchange. In March 2022, Bpifrance published a report identifying the weaknesses in France’s public market ecosystem. Such support would hopefully lead to successful stock debuts followed later by secondary stock offerings that provide the muscle for these companies to expand globally and acquire competitors. But there’s a growing recognition that this system drops off mid-way through a company’s potential journey.įrance now wants to build a complimentary system that guides the very best startups through the IPO and post-IPO process to continue attracting investment. We must make this happen in France.” European partnershipsįor the past decade, the French government has carefully nurtured a tech ecosystem through investing in VCs, bulking out its public bank Bpifrance and policy reforms designed to accompany startups from their earliest incarnation through to late-stage growth funding. “Even with this magnificent history of French tech over the past decade, these exits still happen in New York. “We must succeed in making these listings in Paris,” said Bpifrance CEO Nicolas Dufourcq while presenting the bank’s annual results earlier this year. If startups go public elsewhere or get acquired by international players, there’s a feeling that France is failing to fully capture the value created by them. More companies going public in Paris means more of their jobs remain here, more of their employees benefit from stock options, more venture funds get bigger windfalls to reinvest in more startups, and so on. When companies list in France, they create a virtuous circle that the government wants to enlarge. ![]() ![]() “We want them to be able to continue to grow in France and to continue to recruit in France.” "For the past five years, France has seen the emergence of very high-growth companies with European, if not global, reach,” said French digital minister Jean-Noël Barrot last November. The French government is hoping they don’t follow tech giant Criteo, which listed on the Nasdaq in New York in 2013. But where they chose to list is very much anyone’s guess. In the next few years, some of French tech’s poster children - companies like Alan, Qonto, Mirakl and Doctolib - are expected to IPO. That's not the kind of impact Macron is after. At close on Friday, the shares stood at €2.98. The company only raised €8m in the offering - effectively a solid Series A round for a typical startup. The stock debuted on February 13 for €3.87 per share and closed down on its first day of trading at €3.45 per share. ![]() The only French tech company to go public in 2023 so far is online driving school Lepermislibre. “France has been in the front seat there, but what's been done in France so far in mobilising public money and the public initiative around growing the tech sector is now being deployed at the European level,” Narminio said. Because all the Euronext countries trade on a single exchange, France’s efforts are having a ripple effect as other European governments and financial institutions climb on the IPO bandwagon. If France does manage to turn around its woeful tech IPO history, the benefits could be felt across Europe.Īurélien Narminio, head of equity listing at the Euronext stock exchange, credited France with taking the lead on driving efforts to reform the listing process and attract greater financial support for IPOs. ![]()
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