Swiss stock market: SIX Swiss Exchange
The strength of the Swiss financial centre, its position as a world leader in cross-border private asset management and the associated high level of financing and placing power enjoyed by its banks, and the general attractiveness of Switzerland as a location make the SIX Swiss Exchange extremely appealing for both domestic and foreign companies. Foreign companies account for 25% of the companies listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, a higher proportion than any other exchange in Europe apart from the London Stock Exchange (also 25%).
Public placement and listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange give a company access to an experienced, financially powerful group of international investors. With an average of ten IPOs per year in a positive market environment, transparency over transaction volumes and a manageable range of listed companies, every company on the SIX Swiss Exchange benefits from a high level of visibility and attention from investors, analysts and journalists. At the same time, investors in Switzerland have many years of experience of international sector-oriented investment strategies. Given Switzerland’s economic structure, the banking and insurance secotrs, the food sector, pharmaceuticals, biotech, medtech and cleantech, as well as the micro and nanotechnology sectors are particularly popular with investors.
In addition, the regulatory provisions of the SIX Swiss Exchange reflect market realities and thus simplify the capital increase process. Under Swiss legislation, the SIX Swiss Exchange has powers of self-regulation and is thus ideally equipped to combine high levels of investor protection with a regulatory environment that is reasonable from a company perspective.
The SIX Swiss Exchange is part of the SIX Group, which covers the entire value chain within Switzerland’s financial market and also operates internationally. Securities trading, associated processing of transactions, provision of financial information and payment transactions are all performed by a single organization. In addition to its broad product range, its fully integrated and completely automated trading, the clearing and settlement system is very strong. Orders are executed, cleared, paid for and confirmed at the click of a mouse. The SIX Swiss Exchange is the home exchange and market for shares in leading international companies such as Novartis, Nestlé, Roche, ABB and UBS. The indices provided by the SIX Swiss Exchange are therefore of global importance and highly regarded. The best-known index, the Swiss Market Index SMI®, comprises the 20 largest and most liquid stocks on the Swiss equity market.