The »Entry Standard« which is a stock exchange segment for small and medium-sized entities in Frankfurt celebrated its second anniversary on Thursday and announced positive results: judging by its current market capitalization of about 9.5 billion Euros, the Entry Standard is said to be currently the biggest alternative capital market in continental Europe. The average market capitalization per company amounts to about 88 million Euros.
Currently there are 109 companies listed in the Entry Standard including 8 companies from Switzerland, Luxemburg, Italy and Canada. Due to restricted transparency requirements and low costs the Entry Standard is perceived and appreciated as an easy and flexible access to the capital market in particular by small and medium-sized entities. 5 companies have changed over to the General or the Prime Standards which are more strictly regulated. 24 companies entered the Entry Standard leaving the Open Market segment. In the meantime 24 banks support companies listed in the Entry Standards and monitor transparency requirements.
More and more companies choose to have a prospectus published. About 80% of new entries chose a public offering and an EU prospectus.
The Entry Standard is open to all lines of industry. Companies most often come from the financial (25), technology (12) and real estate (10) industries. In particular to experienced investors the Entry Standard is very popular. Thus, about on average 86% of the issuing volume were placed with institutional investors specialized in small and medium-sized companies.
»The Entry Standard with more than 100 listed companies after just 2 years has stood the test and established itself. Surveys show that this market features high liquidity, transparency and entry costs as compared to other similar alternative markets in Europe,« raves Mr. Rainer Riess, Managing Director with Cash Market Development. 