The impact of the euro on primary equity markets

The introduction of the euro followed a period of restructuring in corporate Europe and contributed towards the integration of financial markets and transparency in equity pricing. In this process the euro facilitated the development of alliances among exchanges and infrastructure providers. As argued in this paper, while the ability of issuers to place larger issues was enhanced after the advent of the new currency, the euro was not the main reason behind the extraordinary IPO activity observed in the period after 1998. Other factors, such as the need of corporations to consolidate and compete on a domestic and cross-border basis within the European Union, are deemed to be more important.