Euronext Lisbon looks forward to Novobanco IPO

The President of Euronext Lisbon believes that Novobanco has an “interesting” level of liquidity making it eminently suitable for an IPO.

Isabel Ucha says she is optimistic about the possibility of the US fund Lone Star pressing ahead with an Initial Public Offer, pointing out the positive potential impact that the bank could have on Portugal’s capital market.

“In the case of Novobanco, if it goes ahead, it is a bank of a size that will certainly have an interesting level of liquidity, and this is a point that will make it attractive,” she said at a presentation of the ‘Prospects for 2025’ on Thursday, underlining the importance of liquidity as a factor of attractiveness for investors”, reports the online business daily ECO.

The president of the Portuguese stock exchange also stressed that the current context may be favorable for operations of this type. “What we are seeing in the market is an increased appetite for European securities”, adding that “European indices have all been rising since the beginning of the year, and the feeling we have is that investors are looking at Europe from the perspective that there was a mismatch between European securities and some American securities”.

Regarding the choice of the Portuguese Euronext stock market for the IPO, which lost four companies in 2024, Isabel Ucha recalled that “Novobanco is an overwhelmingly Portuguese bank” and that there is “a natural tendency for companies to choose the place where the bank as a business is most recognised”.