The head of the Vienna Stock Exchange, Christoph Boschan, expects good opportunities for IPOs in 2023 and the next few years. The interest rate turnaround by the ECB makes IPOs attractive again compared to debt financing. The year 2022 was not so bad for the leading index ATX despite “significantly changed factors”. “Our national index is where it was when the Ukraine crisis broke out,” Boschan said in an interview with APA.
For 2023, Boschan is slightly optimistic. “All known factors are probably more or less priced in and every positive change can also lead to growth on the markets again,” explained the stock exchange boss.
For long-term investors, however, the average return over several years counts anyway, so it doesn’t matter whether the year is good or bad. “Average return on the ATX at 6 percent since it’s been calculated, so 1991, that’s what matters,” Boschan said.
Turnover on the Vienna Stock Exchange was higher in 2022 than anywhere else. According to Boschan, this is also due to which companies are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. Inflation and rising interest rates brought about a “reorientation towards result-oriented business models”, away from companies with promises of future profits. “Of course, the Austrian stocks with their classic orientation – oil, steel, utilities, banks and insurance companies that finance it – were way ahead.”
There was no IPO on the Vienna Stock Exchange in 2022. “There was almost one, I can say that much, because the market circumstances that could not be influenced intervened”. Boschan pointed out that there were hardly any IPOs anywhere in Europe or anywhere in the world. The exception was Porsche.