Europe, Asia Face $130 Billion Listing Exodus as US Allure Grows

European and Asian firms may soon flood the US market with new listings, as the allure of loftier valuations and deeper liquidity fuels an exodus from their home markets.

From Swedish buy-now, pay-later giant Klarna Group Plc to equipment rental firm Ashtead Group Plc to Chinese bubble-tea maker Sexy Tea, businesses based outside the US with a combined estimated value of roughly $130 billion are working toward New York listings, according to calculations based on sources including Bloomberg News reports, PitchBook data and company disclosures. 

The figure would add to last year’s record number of cross-border listings in the US. Higher valuations are a key part of the allure. European and Asian stocks trade at a roughly 35% discount to US peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Glencore Plc became the latest company to unveil potential interest in a move on Wednesday. It would add another $50 billion to the total if it takes steps toward moving its main listing to the US. 

“A lot of companies understand that right now the US is the deepest and most liquid market,” said Seth Rubin, head of global equity capital markets at Stifel Financial Corp. “It’s across the board and across industries.”

Last year, the US attracted 101 initial public offerings by foreign firms, a 51% jump from 2023, according to research by consultancy EY. The deals made up more than half of the US’s entire IPO count for the year — a historic high — even if they only contributed to about a fifth of the proceeds. That’s excluding transactions where capital wasn’t raised, such as Flutter Entertainment Plc shifting its primary listing from London to New York.

Hopes for a growth rally spurred by President Donald Trump’s pro-business agenda are also encouraging some European and Asian companies to think about a US float, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s co-head of global banking Filippo Gori said in an interview with Bloomberg TV last month.

Much of the capital at risk of fleeing comes from Europe. FTSE 100 constituent Ashtead Group has announced plans to move its primary listing stateside, a relocation that building materials firm CRH Plc made in 2023.

The region has already lost out on several IPOs in recent years. British chipmaker Arm Holdings Plc chose to list in the US in 2023, while Carlyle Group Inc. has filed confidentially for a US IPO of Dutch chemicals producer Nouryon, Bloomberg News reported this month.

Swiss building solutions company Holcim Ltd. is spinning off its North American unit with a US listing, with an additional one planned in Switzerland. Jan Jenisch, who will helm the spinoff, said last year that his valuation for the US business was around $50 billion. The company had said earlier that its US spinoff could be valued at more than $30 billion. 

“The pipeline of European companies considering a US IPO is as deep as it has ever been, and we are seeing a clear increase in the number of companies currently listed across Europe that are looking at a potential cross listing in the United States,” said David Boles, a partner at law firm Freshfields.

Among the latest moves, Greece’s Titan Cement International SA listed its US unit Titan America SA in New York earlier this month. 

To stop the hemorrhage, European officials are advancing reforms to attract listings, including changes to the listing rules and moving forward with a long-touted Capital Markets Union, but efforts have so far fallen short.

Part of the issue comes from the perceived higher valuations of US stocks, with technology-weighted US indices outpacing historic gains in European benchmarks last year. For private equity-owned companies in particular, the higher tolerance to debt by US investors also weighs on the decision, advisers say.

“Valuation and market depth are big, but the other thing is leverage,” said Clay Hale, co-head of equity capital markets at Wells Fargo & Co. “US investors are much more receptive to having another turn or turn-and-a-half of leverage on a business.”

Elsewhere, Chinese companies have remained interested in listing in the US even after the ill-fated IPO of ride-hailing firm Didi Global Inc. in 2021, with 33 floating in the US last year, as per EY’s count.

Chinese IPOs in the US raised $1.3 billion in 2024, a fraction of the $13.2 billion raised in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Firms gearing up for a US debut include the international arm of data center operator GDS Holdings Ltd. and autonomous driving firm Inceptio Technology, Bloomberg News has reported. 

Chinese IPO hopefuls will have to contend with the ever-evolving set of challenges to list in the US. Autonomous driving companies Pony AI Inc. and WeRide Inc. faced delays in their New York floats to answer queries from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The companies’ filings showed additional disclosures in risk factors that included data-related activities, concerns that hark back to the root cause of Didi’s IPO woes. 

And in the waning days of the Biden administration, a fresh set of curbs went into effect on investments by US individuals and companies into Chinese technologies, including semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

“IPOs that are subject to the new investment restrictions may be delayed,” said Mengyu Lu, who leads Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s Asia capital-markets practice. “The detailed requirements and regulatory process required are still unclear, even for the notifiable transactions.”

With assistance from Allegra Catelli.

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