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IBU-tec advanced materials AG is the first company in the IPO stage in Scale, Deutsche Börse's new segment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Ulrich Weitz, CEO of IBU-tec, said, “IBU-tec is the first Scale IPO and we feel that we are in good hands for our course of future growth in this new segment with its high transparency requirements.” As a research and production service provider, the Weimar-based company develops new compounds for inorganic materials and improves material properties of existing products. One of its main focuses lies on green mobility.
Just three weeks after the launch of Scale, DirectPlace will also come into play for the first time. The subscription functionality is intended to enable companies to tap into further investor groups such as family offices, asset managers and retail investors prior to the IPO. This will allow retail investors to already place buy orders through their custodian bank during the subscription phase which until now was usually only possible after they were placed into trading.
Through DirectPlace, orders are automatically forwarded to a central order book, which the issuer, together with the accompanying bank acting as lead manager, can view at any time. The issuer then decides which orders will be allocated. Due to the fact that all German banks and also a large number of international banks are connected to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange's trading system, almost any investor can subscribe in the pre-IPO stage. Important information on the transaction as well as the securities prospectus can be found at www.boerse-frankfurt.de.
DirectPlace can be used in the public offering of equities, bonds, participation certificates or funds.
Currently 38 equities and 10 corporate bonds are listed in the Scale segment. Admission requirements for the segment include meeting a minimum size requirement in terms of key financial figures and providing evidence of cooperation with a Deutsche Börse capital market partner that checks the company's suitability for the segment and also oversees companies after their IPO. There will also be mandatory research reports, commissioned and paid for by Deutsche Börse and prepared by Edison Investment Research and Morningstar. A few days ago, Deutsche Börse added the Scale All Share Index, which tracks Scale-listed shares, to its index offering.
