Euronext Access markets are designed especially for start-ups and small companies wanting to join a stock exchange to finance growthEuronext's Stéphane Boujnah: setting up a Euronext Access market in Dublin 'could have a big impact in terms of addressing the needs of SMEs'. Photograph: Alan Betson
and gain the reputational advantages of listing but do not meet the criteria for admission to main or even junior Euronext markets. The number of companies on the Iseq All-Share index has fallen by more than 50 per cent to 25 since Euronext acquired the what was then known as the Irish Stock Exchange in 2018, as takeovers and delistings of public companies outweighed initial public offerings . Only three companies have come to the market in Dublin in the past five years.
He noted that this has been exacerbated – among other things – by the growing trend of companies funded by private equity being sold in “second and third rotation” deals to other private equity firms, rather than IPOs being a first exit of choice.