Long-awaited $2 billion CVC debut shows the IPO market is back on track, Euronext boss says

The highly anticipated trading debut of private equity group CVC Capital Partners shows that Europe’s initial public offering market is back on track, Euronext CEO Stéphane Boujnah told CNBC on Friday.

Shares of Amsterdam-listed CVC, one of Europe’s largest buyout companies, traded nearly 24% higher at around 12:30 p.m. London time.

The stock had opened at more than 17 euros ($18.25) per share, significantly above the 14 euro offer price, reaffirming strong investor appetite for the company. The IPO is widely expected to be one of Europe’s largest this year.

CVC, which expects to raise between 2 billion euros and 2.3 billion euros from the deal, said in a statement that the IPO was oversubscribed multiple times and increased to accommodate robust demand from institutional investors across the globe.

“It is a very strong signal of the comeback of IPOs in Europe, in particular in continental Europe,” Euronext’s Boujnah told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday.

Boujnah said the Euronext platform, the largest stock exchange in Europe and one of the largest in the world, had welcomed 11 stock listings since the beginning of the year.

“That’s a signal of both the success of the Euronext platform and the competitiveness of the Euronext platform — and a signal of the IPO market being back,” he added.

Boujnah’s comments come after a sharp downturn in the number of companies that listed on the Euronext last year, and after several high-profile European firms opted to list in the U.S. instead.

British chip designer Arm, for example, went public in New York last year, dealing a blow to the U.K.’s post-Brexit vision. And Irish building materials company CRH said in September that it had successfully transitioned its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange, de-listing from the Euronext Dublin platform.

Euronext reported 64 equity listings on its platform last year, a significant drop from the 83 listings it welcomed the year prior.

When asked whether Euronext was on track to exceed the 64 listings it notched last year, Boujnah replied, “I think the worst is over.”

“We have a very dynamic queue of both domestic EU companies and also international companies. Any international company that looks at listing in Europe now looks at the Euronext market,” he added.

“We have a very, very impressive pipeline for the months to come.”