Plethora of share issues on the way

The next three months are expected to be among the busiest in Europe's equity capital markets business for a while, as companies scramble to secure stock market listings before the new issues market shuts down for reasons related to the millennium bug.

From online auction house QXL.com to Swedish football club AIK Stockholm via mid-sized technology stocks and some bigger issues, investors will have no shortage of initial public offerings and secondary issues from which to choose. The question is, are they in the mood to buy?

Bankers say last month's rise in US interest rates helped to settle nerves in global stock markets, making the task of selling new issues easier. However, doubts about the interest rate environment have resurfaced.

Investment bankers and fund managers concede conditions are not ideal for a flood of new listings for the rest of the year. Some of the biggest deals of the next few weeks include: the spin-offs of Rhodia by Rhone-Poulenc and of Celanese by Hoechst; the IPOs of Interactiva and Amadeus from Spain; and the possible flotation of Enel, the Italian electricity utility. All are potentially liquid stocks that should attract a global investor audience.

Underwriters' main fear is that some new issues might need to be scaled back in the next few weeks if buyers prove reluctant, as happened in the early summer months when European stock markets were falling.