Europe's IPO market has some momentum, with Initial Public Offerings recently completed in Spain, Poland and Czech Republic. This is lifting the mood in the market, and among investment bankers. Private equity investors in particular are pinning their hopes on being able to exit their holdings via IPOs. In Germany, the generics group Stada from the Bain and Cinven portfolio, which is valued at up to 10 billion euros, is aiming to go public before Easter.

Last week Czech energy equipment manufacturer Doosan Skoda Power a subsidiary of the Korean Doosen concern, raise around 100 million dollars equivalent in a Czech Koruna offering. It was priced in the middle of the indicated range, and was twice oversubscribed.

Also last week, trading began in the shares of Swiss biotech company Bioversys, which develops drugs against antibiotic resistance, and the shares of the Warsaw based laboratory chain Diagnostyka.

Private equity firm MidEuropa Partners sold 1.7 billion zloty (408 million euros) worth of shares. The valuation of Diagnostyka corresponds to 7.6 times the estimated operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for 2025, which is a considerable discount to comparable competitors Medicover and Med Life, which are valued at around twelve times operating earnings.

The Bioversys shares were offered in Switzerland at a fixed price of 36 Swiss francs per share. This corresponds to total proceeds of 80 million Swiss francs, including the greenshoe option.

In Italy, the luxury products (such as jewellery) logistics company Ferrari Group is planning to go public in Amsterdam, and is still in the pre-marketing phase.

And this week the biggest IPO of the still young year-to-date was completed, for the former Tui subsidiary HBX Group (disposed of by Tui in 2016 under its former name Hotelbeds). HBX raised 725 million euros on the Spanish Stock Exchange, valuing the company at 2.84 billion. The highly profitable hotel bed broker is controlled by private equity firms Cinven and EQT, together with as well as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The lion's share of the proceeds will go to the company itself, to reduce debt.

The HBX Group roadshow included London. Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley were joint global coordinators, with Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Santander and UBS as joint bookrunners. Alantra Capital Markets and BBVA/Oddo BHF were co-lead managers. Evercore Partners International advised the company.

Assuming a full exercise of an over allotment option in the coming weeks, the existing shareholders will still hold 63.72%. The company operates on a business-to-business basis and connects providers, including more than 250,000 hotels as well as travel experience, transfer and car hire companies, with around 60,000 customers such as tour operators, airlines and online travel agencies. The IPO proceeds are expected to reduce the leverage ratio to 2.5 times Ebitda – down from 3.2 times previously.