The importance of the NewConnect market as a venue for conducting initial offerings

Abstract

The paper aims to answer questions concerning the characteristics of the development process of the NewConnect market since its launch until the end of 2012, with particular emphasis on the results of an analysis of initial offerings conducted by companies willing to be listed. First, the authors’ objective and hypotheses are presented, followed by a description of the theoretical and legal aspects of the Alternative Trading System in Poland, including NewConnect and its place within the capital market, and the process of conducting an IPO and stock market debut. The second part of the paper contains the results of a research of the number, capitalization and initial offerings of companies on the alternative market, as well as the geographical and sectoral distribution of listed issuers. The summary includes the authors’ conclusions with regards the main hypothesis and general findings arising from the literature and empirical research, as well as identification of areas that require further analysis. The study allowed full realisation of the main objective. The results confirm the primary hypothesis, proving that NewConnect is gaining importance as a place to conduct an initial offering, in particular by companies which otherwise do not meet the conditions of admission to trading on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, both in terms of their value (the sum of offerings conducted) as well as the relative share (of IPOs in the alternative system in their total value) on the Polish capital market. Verification of secondary hypotheses was also successful, proving a far more universal character of the NewConnect market than assumed originally by the Organizer, and its complementarity with the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange.