European stock exchanges struggle to attract key IPOs amid US competition

Europe has a talent retention problem, and it’s not about football transfers. The continent’s stock exchanges are watching high-profile companies choose New York over London, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam with increasing regularity, creating a capital migration pattern that’s starting to look less like a trend and more like a structural shift. Over the past decade, approximately 130 European firms, including 51 from the UK alone, have moved their listings to the US. The combined capital migration totals roughly $676 billion, a figure that has since swelled to nearly $900 billion for those companies that remain listed stateside. The numbers tell the story In 2025, European IPO volume dropped 20% to just 105 deals. Total proceeds fell 10% year-over-year to $17.3 billion. Compare that to what’s been happening across the Atlantic. SpaceX pulled off a historic $75 billion IPO on Nasdaq in June 2026. Swedish fintech Klarna, rather than listing at home, completed a $1.4 billion IPO on the NYSE in September 2025. European equities persistently trade at a valuation discount exceeding 30% compared to their US counterparts. For a company deciding where to list, that’s not an abstract number. It’s ...