Europe's IPO comeback

Private equity-backed IPOs have had a rollercoaster ride in Europe over the last five years. 2010 witnessed a surge in activity - the first since 2007. This continued into the first quarter of 2011, though this was brought to an abrupt end when the Arab Spring and natural disasters saw many IPOs pulled.

In 2010, 20 IPOs were recorded in Western Europe, mostly in the DACH, Nordic and Benelux regions. Activity plunged back to historic lows in 2011. Just seven IPOs were recorded in Western Europe last year, with Germany was the rainmaker on the back of a strong economic upswing as well as the robustness of the automobile sector (Norma made headlines when 3i floated it).

Just three PE-backed IPOs have been recorded in 2012 so far. Ziggo, with a market cap of €3.7bn at listing, marked the largest IPO in Europe since July 2011. The other two were Czech software firm AVG and French healthcare business EOS.

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