Euronext today announces that Euronext Growth – its pan-European MTF dedicated to small & mid-caps – has been officially registered as “SME Growth Market” for both shares and bonds by the competent authorities in Belgium, France, Ireland and Portugal2. This status, introduced under MiFID II, has been designed to facilitate access to capital markets for European SMEs by further developing qualified markets to cater to the specific needs of small and medium-sized companies.

? Euronext Growth, our small & mid-cap market, is now officially registered as #EU SME Growth Market. Listed #SMEs will benefit from simplified market processes, such as:
▶️ lighter #prospectuses
▶️ exemptions from specific #MAR obligations https://t.co/OsaojJo6rp pic.twitter.com/fFTpOGtKC2

— Euronext (@euronext) October 29, 2019

Thanks to the SME Growth Market status, Euronext Growth listed companies will benefit from simplified market processes in two key legislations: the Prospectus Regulation and the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). Benefits include:

• the use of lighter prospectuses at both initial and subsequent admissions (the EU Growth prospectus and the simplified prospectus under the simplified disclosure regime for secondary issuance), which will reduce workloads and facilitate issuers’ capacity to raise funds on capital markets;
• exemptions from specific obligations under the Market Abuse Regime: issuers listed on an SME Growth Market benefit from a lighter insider list disclosure regime.

Those evolutions are first steps to additional alleviations and benefits expected to be implemented in the years to come for SME Growth Markets. For investors, these will materialise into more attractive opportunities to invest in European SME shares and bonds.

Stéphane Boujnah, CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext: “Becoming an SME Growth Market will further equip Euronext Growth with the necessary tools to raise the profile and visibility of listed SMEs. In line with its pan-European expansion, the SME Growth Market status will strengthen Euronext’s ambition to forge a harmonized market.”

From young, growth-oriented companies to long-established enterprises, Euronext offers various types of markets with multiple entry points to provide issuers with a tailor-made listing offer. Euronext’s regulated market is mainly dedicated to large cap and mid-cap companies. Euronext Growth provides fewer obligations and is intended primarily to small and mid-cap growth companies. Euronext Access is an MTF offering companies at an early stage an easy access to capital markets and a framework adapted to their specific needs.

Euronext is fully committed to support the financing of small and medium-sized companies on its pan-European markets by providing them with a wide range of services and tailored coaching programmes such as TechShare, IPOready and FamilyShare, and through its expansion beyond its core domestic markets in Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Euronext markets welcome 1,109 listed SMEs operating across a wide range of sectors, 300 of which joined within the past 5 years (including 50% of tech companies).

Source: Euronext