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| Chipmaking at Siltronic: the company's planned IPO failed to excite a selective investor base |
With volume in the EMEA equity capital markets up 132% this quarter compared with the first quarter of 2003, according to Dealogic, European equity capital markets appear to be in rude health. The IPO market in particular, which raised $7 billion through 39 deals, is at its strongest since the fourth quarter of 2001.
But Germany's IPO market failed to revive this quarter, though it twice threatened to do so in March, despite the apparent strength of investor demand and the success of large new issues elsewhere such as Belgacom's e4 billion deal on March 23, the largest IPO since Orange's in February 2001.
The IPOs of semiconductor maker X-Fab, led by ING, and silicon wafer manufacturer Siltronic, led by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, were both pulled at the last minute as bookrunners blamed "poor market conditions" attributable to the Madrid bombings and a large fall in the share price of comparable companies.
Bungled execution
The IPO of X-Fab, the former state-owned East German semiconductor maker VEB Mikroelektronik, was poorly handled from conception to abortion.