Deutsche Börse and KfW Mittelstandsbank have jointly opened the German Equity Forum in Frankfurt for the eleventh time. The capital market conference for companies seeking equity capital will run from this Monday until Wednesday.
“The Equity Forum has become an established feature among the world’s major international capital market conferences”, said Frank Gerstenschläger, member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse, at the opening of the Forum. “The growing number of participants and the broad spectrum of issues covered highlight the event’s international scope: it offers both German and foreign companies a forum for equity financing.”
“Small and medium-sized companies still have a very thin equity base. The provision of external equity capital plays a key role in financing both growth, and company succession. The Equity Forum offers SMEs an excellent platform to attract the interest of equity donors for such financing projects", said Dr. Peter Fleischer, member of the Board of Managing Directors of the KfW Bankengruppe.
More than 100 non-listed companies seeking equity will use the three-day Forum as a platform to present their business models. Around 220 listed companies will be presenting their Q3 results at investor and analyst conferences. With 5,000 participants comprising investors and companies, analysts, banks that specialize in IPO preparation, lawyers, auditors and communications consultants, the number of participants is up again this year.
This year’s international country forums will focus on China, Russia, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine. This highlights the growing interest among companies from these regions in obtaining access to the European capital market. A special forum will also be held for REITs. Deutsche Börse launched a REIT segment and REIT indices only recently, on 7 November.
KfW Mittelstandsbank has been involved in promoting the equity financing market for a number of years. At the end of Q3 2007, it had made commitments of €300 million in equity capital to finance small and medium-sized companies, which already outstrips the figure for 2006 as a whole (€281 million).
Deutsche Börse and KfW Mittelstandsbank have been holding 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.
