Deutsche Börse and KfW Mittelstandsbank opened the fall event of the German Equity Forum in Frankfurt am Main on Monday. The forum, which is Europe’s largest capital market event for equity financing and is already celebrating its 10th anniversary, will run until 29 November 2006.
The latest participant numbers are testimony to the success of the Equity Forum and the importance of equity financing, particularly for small and medium-sized companies: a total of more than 250 listed and non-listed companies will be making presentations over the course of the three-day event – eight times as many as back in 1996, when the Forum was launched. Participant numbers have also risen substantially. While 100 investors attended the event in the first year, this year’s Forum will welcome more than 4,000 private equity managers, fund managers, analysts, bank representatives and corporate finance experts. More than 200 listed companies will be presenting their Q3 results at investor and analyst conferences.
“In strategic terms, it is becoming more and more important that companies are able to acquire equity financing so that they can exploit business opportunities, such as innovation financing and globalization”, explained Reto Francioni, CEO of Deutsche Börse, at the official opening of the Forum. “Equity financing plays a key role in growth financing”, said Francioni in Frankfurt on Monday.
“Germany’s small and medium-sized companies need a stronger equity culture”, emphasized Ingrid Matthäus-Maier, Spokeswoman of the Board of Managing Directors of the KfW Banking Group. “Looking at how we compare to other countries across the globe, we really have to catch up”. Small and medium-sized companies should also be taking a closer look at options such as equity or mezzanine financing in order to drive innovation and growth. This is why the German Equity Forum is an indispensable information platform.
KfW Mittelstandsbank has been involved in promoting the equity financing market for years, and in 2004 and 2005 alone, agreed to provide over €600 million in equity capital to finance small and medium-sized companies. KfW is planning to expand its offering to help medium-sized companies with relatively low capital requirements, in particular: an equity product based on participation rights is currently being developed in cooperation with other market participants and is set to appear on the market in the near future.
The fall event of this year’s Forum will feature a specialist forum for REITs, and will also focus on China, Russia and Ukraine. Deutsche Börse and KfW Mittelstandsbank have been organizing the German Equity Forum twice annually since 1996. The fall event is oriented towards companies in the later stages of financing, as well as listed companies, whereas the spring event focuses on the early stage field.
