Despite the recent stock market rally and declining volatility, IPOs are rather rare in many industrialised countries –not least for seasonal reasons. The main reason for this, however, is the aggressive monetary policy of the central banks, with more than ten interest rate hikes in both Europe and the US.
Continuing geopolitical uncertainty has perpetuated volatility in global markets, exacerbated by higher inflation and interest rates. The impact has left the biotech market in a limbo as investors eschew riskier investments, but there are signs of a potential recovery ahead.
From its all-time high in August 2021 the largest and most important index for the biotech industry also in Europe (NBI) lost around 25%. After a period of excessive capital inflows, money is much harder to come by these days. The answer can only be more creativity in structuring deals.
The eye disease specialist Oculis Holding AG has been listed on Nasdaq following the merger of Oculis SA with European Biotech Acquisition Corp.
Biotechnology was dramatically rewarded in the financial markets through much of 2020 and the first half of 2021, widely credited for providing the COVID-19 vaccines. This followed four already exceptional years in the financial markets, with the Nasdaq Biotech Index (NBI) hitting its all-time high of 5449.32 on 30 August 2021.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the UKs large pharma player, has voted to spin-off its consumer healthcare business into a new company called Haleon. Shareholders gave the go-ahead for GSK to demerge on 6, July, first trading day is today, 18th of July.