The International Stock Exchange (TISE) listed 444 securities during the first half of 2024, an 18.4% increase against the same period last year.
The total market value of all listed securities surpassed the £700 billion mark for the first time, reaching £708 billion at the end of June.
Cees Vermaas, CEO of TISE, said: “Global macroeconomic conditions had subdued listing activity across the European corporate bond markets during the last couple of years but, with inflation under control, interest rates coming down and an improved outlook for growth, business flows have now started to recover. We are very pleased that clients continue to recognise our strengths as a leading European venue for listing bonds offered to institutional and professional investors.”
Listing bonds on a recognised stock exchange such as TISE means that the securities are considered a ‘listed’ investment. Often investors are mandated to invest a certain proportion of capital into listed investments. Alternatively, investors may take extra comfort from the ‘regulatory’ process and accompanying disclosure and transparency associated with a listing.
Most of the securities listed on TISE are not traded ‘on market’ but will be traded over the counter (OTC) among professional investors. As such, TISE does not list ‘retail’ bonds – and for the reasons outlined above, often a listing will make the bonds more appealing to other investor groups in the secondary market.
The new listings contributed to the total number of securities on TISE’s Official List reaching 4,371 at 30 June 2024, which is an increase of 5.6% year on year and a record high in the history of the exchange.
During the first half of the year, there were 436 newly listed securities admitted to TISE’s Qualified Investor Bond Market (QIBM). Driven by a return to more stable macroeconomic conditions and the value to clients of listing as outlined above, private equity debt (147 securities) remained the largest product type for newly listed securities during the first half of 2024. There are now nearly 2,000 private equity debt securities listed on TISE.
High yield bonds on the exchange reached more than 450 at the end of June. There were 64 newly listed high yield bonds during the first six months of the year, nearly three times more than in the same period last year, as borrowers refinanced (or repaid) their outstanding debts, and more new issuances came to market.
Vermaas added: “This is a very positive opening six months of the year. We saw strong growth in new listings during the first quarter and this has continued through the second quarter as the soft-landing narrative has been sustained, primarily owing to the resilient growth in the US economy. M&A activity is returning, the wave of refinancing continues and now a lower interest rate environment is bringing more new high yield corporates to the market. A continuation of this upward momentum in the economic picture gives us reason to be optimistic for the second half of the year.”
©Markets Media Europe 2024
