Matts Johansen is the CEO of Aker BioMarine, the global leader in krill fishing and production of krill-based products, such as omega 3 supplements and aquaculture feed. Aker BioMarine was founded as part of the Aker conglomerate, and Matts has been the CEO since 2015. In July 2020, they listed the company on Euronext Growth Oslo, in the middle of covid. They then up-listed it to the main exchange in 2021. With Matts, we discuss his experience of listing an innovative company with few listed...

Øystein Kalleklev is the CEO of not one, but 2 listed companies: Flex LNG and Avance Gas, two leading shipping companies in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), both listed on Euronext Oslo.  Øystein shares his experience steering these companies through volatile market conditions and his rationale behind dual listing Flex LNG in the US in 2019. With Øystein, we discuss what being listed means for these companies, the technological evolutions in shipping, the...

Saudi Arabia has evolved from having 4 IPOs per year 10 years ago, to 40 IPOs per year over the last few years. Nayef Al Athel has been in the middle of this evolution, as he headed the listings activity at the Saudi Exchange between 2018 and 2023. With Nayef, we discuss the policy decisions and incentives that have made Saudi Arabia one of the most active IPO markets globally, how going public has affected the strategy of the Tadawul group, the internationalization of the exchange, and the...

Not all IPO processes end up with an IPO. The path is filled with twists and turns, in some cases cancellations, postponements, or even a strategic sale before reaching the stock market. In this episode, we sit down with Maria Hedengren, who led the IPO processes of both iZettle (bought out by Paypal in the final stages) and Readly (listed in Stockholm in 2020).  Through Maria's lens, we explore the critical moments, strategic decisions, and leadership challenges encountered when steering a...

In 2018, Spotify was the first company to do a direct listing instead of a regular IPO process – foregoing the usual bookbuilding process in favor of opening the shares directly on the market in an auction. Dakin Campbell is the author of the book Going Public, where he recounts the history and the inside stories of some of the major IPOs in recent memory, starting with the 1956 IPO of Ford, and focusing on the innovations that have occurred through time. With Dakin, we discuss what led...

Criteo, a French adtech company, listed on Nasdaq in 2013. Edouard Lassalle joined in 2012 to prepare the company for the IPO, and later served as head of Investor Relations for the company until 2022.  One of the topics that comes up at an early stage during IPO preparation is the choice of listing location. In earlier episodes, we have heard from tech executives at Wise, DeliveryHero, OVHCloud and Exclusive Networks why they decided to list in Europe. Today, we look back at the 2013 US IPO...

Middle Eastern equity capital markets have captured investors' attention the last 2 years, as the only truly active IPO market in the world throughout 2022 and 2023 - with close to 50 IPOs listing each of those years. To learn more about GCC equity markets, we are joined by Wassim Al Khatib, the CEO of Lazard in MENA. Lazard is an independent financial adviser, advising companies and their owners on all aspects of corporate finance, including organizing the IPO process. Before Lazard, Wassim...

When a company becomes listed, index inclusion is a big deal. Beyond the stamp of approval, it brings in new passive investors, more liquidity, and ultimately more stability as a listed company. Yet, index inclusion rules are very technical, and not always easy to understand. To open up the topic of equity indices, we have invited Mark Makepeace, the CEO of Wilshire Indexes. Mark built up and managed FTSE Russell from a small group that produced the UK equity benchmark FTSE 100, to one of the...

Matt Briers has been the CFO of Wise since 2015. In 2021, Matt led the company to a direct listing on the London Stock Exchange, the first major direct listing in Europe. Wise, founded in the UK in 2011 by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, has revolutionized cross-border payments for individuals and businesses by making them easier, faster and cheaper. After 10 years as a private company, Wise followed in the footsteps of Spotify and Slack by doing a direct listing instead of a regular...

Erik Salz has more than 15 years experience in equity research, most recently as an equity analyst at JP Morgan, where he particularly focused on IPO research and multi-industry coverage. During that time, he has been involved in more than 60 IPO projects.  With Erik, we wanted to get a better understanding of how sell-side analysts perform their work in relation to an IPO, how it relates to the coverage post-listing, and the lessons he has learned about how to engage with analysts and...

Julia Stoetzel is the founder of Junicorn, an Investor Relations consultancy based in Germany, and host of the podcast Street Tweets. We first met Julia when she was Investor Relations director at DeliveryHero, and then 3 years later when she headed Investor Relations at About You, a Germany ecommerce company, during its IPO in 2021. With Julia, we discuss her experience in Investor Relations, the importance of having an IR strategy during the IPO process, how to understand which investors...

ERM is the largest pure-play sustainability consultancy globally, with 8,000 consultants assisting companies with defining and implementing their sustainability strategies. ERM works with both the largest listed companies, as well as private companies and investors. Giovanni Aquaro is a Partner at ERM, and works with private companies seeking to bridge the gap in ESG disclosure between private and public. With Giovanni, we discuss how companies should deal with the difference between ESG...

Stéphane Boujnah is the CEO of Euronext, the largest European stock exchange, managing the bourses of Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Oslo, Paris and Milan.  Stephane has been the CEO for the last 8 years, leading an M&A drive that saw the company acquiring and integrating the Irish stock exchange in 2018, Oslo stock exchange in 2019 and Borsa Italiana in 2021. With Stéphane, we go back to the origins of stock markets to discuss why they are the natural home for ambitious growth...

Paolo Dellachà is the CEO of Industrie De Nora, an Italian industrial company with global presence. It is the world’s leading supplier of electrodes for all major electrochemical processes – and have recently seen tremendous growth in applications for green hydrogen production. After almost 100 years as a private family-owned company, De Nora listed in June 2022, in a €500mn transaction. With the market volatility in 2022, it was one of only a handful of companies to list globally that year....

EDP is a Portuguese utility with a global footprint. In 2008, EDP listed its subsidiary EDP Renewables, one of the world's leading renewable energy developers and operators. EDPR is the world's 4th largest wind energy producersm with 15 GW of installed capacity, and a very ambitious growth plan. With Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, CEO of both EDP and EDP Renewables, we discuss the IPO process and timing of EDPR back in 2008, the revolution happening in the energy sector, how to build long-term...

Emmanuel Thomassin is the CFO of Delivey Hero, one of the world's leading online food delivery platforms. He has been the CFO since 2014 and led the company through its successful €1bn IPO on the Frankfurt stock exchange in 2017. Since then, Delivery Hero have continued leading the charge in food delivery globally, using the listing as a catalyst to fund important acquisitions and continue growing the organization. With Emmanuel, we discuss important elements surrounding the IPO process from...

Laurence Borde is the founder of Mediatree, an agency specializing in accompanying companies in the preparation and implementation of the IPO roadshow. With Laurence, we discuss the human element of the IPO process: how chief executives should prepare the company, and themselves, for an IPO: from the optimal organizational structure to your personal physical preparation to manage your energy throughout the process. If you have feedback, or there are any topics you would like us to cover on...

EQT, based in Sweden, is one of the world’s largest private equity firms, and an active IPO sponsor, particularly in Europe - where they have listed companies such as Autostore, Suse, Azelis over the last few years - as well as their own management company in 2019. Magnus Tornling is Global Head of Equity Capital Markets at EQT, and has been responsible for all their IPO processes. With Magnus, we discuss the timeline and considerations EQT applies when considering an IPO, management...

Française des Jeux, coming out of state ownership, was one of the largest and most successful IPOs over the last 5 years, raising $2bn for the French state and helping revive retail interest in IPOs. With Claire Vernet-Garnier, who was Head of the Finance Division at the French Government Shareholding Agency (APE) at the time, we go through the important choices around this successful IPO, and the characteristics of the government as a long-term shareholder in public markets. If you have...

Why is there so little innovation in the IPO process? How has the investor landscape changed over the last decades, and how can companies get institutional investors engaged in their IPOs? Craig Coben was until recently Bank of America's Global Head of Equity Capital Markets, and for many years the bank's Head of EMEA Equity Capital Markets. We draw on his 30 years' experience advising companies on their IPOs, follow-on offerings and rights issues, to try to find some avenues to reform the...

ESG investing is becoming increasingly important, both in terms of fund flows and integration in investment decisions. The disclosure requirements for private and public companies are not the same, making the IPO a crucial milestone regarding ESG, in addition to the traditional financial aspects. Marie Freier is Global Co-Head of Sustainable Investment Banking at Barclays, where she provides advisory services for companies on their sustainability journey. She shares with us her views on the...

KKR is one of the world’s largest private equity firms, and also one of the most active private equity sponsors of IPOs, with 3-4 IPOs per year globally. In Europe, they have listed 6 companies over the last 5 years: Trainline, Calisen, Hensoldt, SoftwareOne, Darktrace, and OVHCloud. Eric Han is a Principal within KKR’s Capital Markets team in New York, and has managed all these IPOs from KKR’s side. He shares with us how KKR approaches their IPOs globally, including IPO readiness, listing...

Annika Sigfrid has been at the center of more IPOs than most of us will ever be. She has 25 years' experience in Equity Capital Markets transactions. In her last role she was Global Head of ECM at Nordea, a leading Nordic investment bank. She is now an independent adviser and board member, working with companies on their governance and preparation of their IPOs. With Annika we go deeper into the topic of IPOs of family-owned companies, which take a significant step as they decide to become...

Yann Leca was the CFO of OVHCloud, a cloud computing company, from 2019 to 2022 and led the company to its IPO in October 2021 - one of the largest and most succesful tech IPOs in Europe in 2021. OVHCloud, founded by Octava Klaba more than 20 years ago, is both founder-led and with two strong private equity backers, KKR and Towerbrook. Yann shares his experience defining the strategy of the company and preparing the company for a successful listing - as well as the early life of a newly...