By Lucy Raitano

(Reuters] – While March was anticipated to be a busy month for Europe’s stock markets listings, a potential conflict with Russia and Ukraine as well as market uncertainty is prompting many companies to put on hold their plans to go public.

The proceeds of companies going public this year in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East are down 79% to $3.0 billion, compared with the same time last year when $15.1 million was the record for equity capital market activity in the region.

The IPO market has seen a boom in the last few years due to rising stock markets. The post-pandemic inflation measures, however, are expected to push up inflation. Investor risk appetite is decreasing for new names due to the strained economic environment.

After several deals being postponed at the beginning of 2021, expectations were for busy March to host initial public offerings.

March is typically the start of the IPO Season. Most companies are waiting to finish their financial year in order to increase their IPO prospectus.

The pipeline’s future is being threatened by falling inflation and fading hopes of a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine dispute.

Because of what happened, “I expect significant disruptions and delays to the pipeline.” Many companies are looking at the situation, waiting to be listed,” Kasper Elmgreen from Amundi, French asset management firm, said.

After officially starting the process, a number of European firms including Spanish bank Ibercaja went public with large-scale listings.

Dutch file-transferring service WeTransfer canceled an Amsterdam float valued between 629 and 716 Million Euros on Jan. 27.

Ottobock, the German maker of artificial limbs is waiting until September in order to open its multibillion euro stock market listing. It is also adding to an array of delays that have been occurring over recent weeks.

The fear that Moscow would launch an invasion in full force against Ukraine has taken its toll.

Andrew Briscoe (NYSE: Head of EMEA ECM Syndicate, Bank of America) stated that “any market driven by headlines will be a difficult one and the impact on adding risk is negative.”

Naturally, there will be delays. Some people need to be more flexible on their timing.

FOCUS: MARGER DEALS

Many bankers believe that larger deals, which offer liquidity access and more high-quality assets, are more likely to be approved. However, there are still some deals to consider until the market stabilizes.

A second European banker managing IPOs said that regardless of whether you are a large or small-cap issuer, this will make them pause.

A volatile market is accompanied by investor pessimism. Last year’s poor performances of IPOs has led to the trading of Alphawave and Deliveroo well below the listing price.

So far in this year’s Renaissance IPO Index, Africa, Middle East and Europe is down by around 23.5%.

Var Energi was a Norwegian oil and gas firm that went public last week with a IPO of 77 billion Norwegian Crowns. However, shares ended Monday closing 2.3% lower than the IPO pricing.

One senior European equity capital market banker said to Reuters that if investors are already worried about their existing portfolios, this doesn’t normally trigger the right attitude to invest in an IPO.