Equity Markets for Growth Companies

Annex A. Methodology for data collection and classification

OECD Survey on Equity Markets for Growth Companies

The OECD conducted a comprehensive survey, the “OECD Survey on Equity Markets for Growth Companies” (OECD Survey), to assess the current functioning of public equity markets for growth companies and examine the legal and regulatory frameworks governing these markets. The survey was completed by 30 jurisdictions, namely: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. The OECD Survey provided valuable insights into the regulatory framework and current functioning of equity markets across markets, focusing on the conditions under which growth companies access equity financing. In particular, the survey aimed to identify whether special provisions or regulatory frameworks exist for growth companies seeking to raise capital.

All growth markets considered in the analysis are presented in Table A A.1. However, for certain analyses, when a jurisdiction has multiple growth markets, only the second-tier segment is considered. The selected second-tier markets are presented in Table A A.2.

Listing information

The information of listed companies presented in Section 1.2 is based on LSEG Screener and the following criteria are used to clean the data:

• Security type classified as “funds” and “trust” are excluded.

• For companies with multiple listings, only primary listings are kept.

• For companies with multiple observations but different countries of domicile, their true country of domicile is manually checked to remove the duplicates.

• Companies trading over-the-counter (OTC) are excluded.

• Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, investment funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts are excluded.

Growth market classification

The identification of equity markets for growth companies is based on whether the regulatory authorities or the stock exchange governing the market segment designate it as being for growth companies or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These segments typically have lower requirements than the main board, which caters to more established companies. A comprehensive classification of growth markets in the surveyed jurisdictions is presented in Table A A.1

Table A A.1. General information on stock exchanges and dedicated segments for growth companies

Jurisdiction	Stock exchange	Growth segment	Number of listed companies	Median market capitalisation, end-2023 (USD million)	Total market capitalisation, end-2023 (USD million)
Australia	National Stock Exchange of Australia	-	55	10	3 167
Austria	Wiener Börse	Direct Market Direct Market Plus	21	31	806
Belgium	Euronext Brussels	Euronext Access Brussels	8	7	102
		Euronext Growth Brussels	5	26	253
Brazil	B3	Bovespa Mais Bovespa Mais Level 2	15	45	207
Bulgaria	Bulgarian Stock Exchange	SME Growth Market BEAM	11	10	74
		Alternative Market	120	2	1 406
Canada	Canadian Securities Exchange	-	768	3	10 507
	TSX Venture Exchange	TSX Venture Exchange	1 445	6	51 417
		TSX Venture Exchange - NEX	205	1	535
Chile	Santiago Stock Exchange	Scalex	4	2	16
China (People’s Republic of)	Shanghai Stock Exchange	STAR Market	565	836	879 386
	Shenzhen Stock Exchange	ChiNext Board	1 333	604	1 603 995
	Beijing Stock Exchange	-	239	192	57 410
Cyprus	Cyprus Stock Exchange	Alternative Market Surveillance Market	55	11	6 197
Czechia	Prague Stock Exchange	Start Market	12	15	376
Denmark	Nasdaq Copenhagen	First North Denmark	41	10	695
Egypt	Nile Stock Exchange	-	30	1	89
Estonia	Nasdaq Tallinn	First North Estonia	11	4	85
Finland	Nasdaq Helsinki	First North Finland	48	44	5 042
France	Euronext Paris	Euronext Growth Paris	263	23	22 846
		Euronext Access Paris	130	8	8 825
Germany	Frankfurt Stock Exchange	Scale	118	62	20 808
Ghana	Ghana Stock Exchange	Alternative Market	5	2	7
Greece	Athens Exchange	Alternative Market	14	29	498
Hong Kong (China)	Stock Exchange of Hong Kong	GEM	326	10	7 437
Hungary	Budapest Stock Exchange	Xtend Market	19	19	962
Iceland	Nasdaq Iceland	First North Iceland	4	6	65
India	Bombay Stock Exchange	BSE SME	278	4	3 893
	National Stock Exchange of India	NSE Emerge	268	13	6 508
Indonesia	Indonesia Stock Exchange	Development Board Acceleration Board	434	33	104 653
Ireland	Euronext Dublin	Euronext Growth Dublin	10	122	3 040
Italy	Euronext Milan	Euronext Growth Milan	199	26	8 840
Jamaica	Jamaica Stock Exchange	Junior market	42	13	869
Japan	Tokyo Stock Exchange	Growth Market	564	41	48 427
		Tokyo Pro Market	90	9	1 595
	Sapporo Securities Exchange	Ambitious	8	8	1 101
	Nagoya Stock Exchange	Next Market	15	13	454
	Fukuoka Stock Exchange	Q-Board	5	7	43
Jordan	Amman Stock Exchange	Second market	109	10	2 224
Kenya	Nairobi Stock Exchange	Alternative Investment Market	5	2	29
Korea	Korea Exchange	KOSDAQ	1 613	81	324 852
		KONEX	129	14	2 981
Latvia	Nasdaq Riga	First North Latvia	5	48	176
Lithuania	Nasdaq Vilnius	First North Lithuania	3	11	38
Luxembourg	Bourse De Luxembourg	Euro MTF	8	51	367
Malaysia	Bursa Malaysia	ACE Market	213	23	8 186
Mauritius	Stock Exchange of Mauritius	Development & Enterprise Market	40	20	58 047
Mongolia	Mongolian Stock Exchange	Tier 3	94	0.1	31
Nigeria	Nigerian Stock Exchange	Alternative Securities Market Growth Board	11	1	87
North Macedonia	Macedonian Stock Exchange	Free Market	54	0.3	253
Norway	Euronext Oslo	Euronex Growth Oslo	103	41	7 688
		Euronext Expand	16	34	1 321
Pakistan	Pakistan Stock Exchange	GEM	3	2	8
Philippines	Philippine Stock Exchange	SME Board	10	19	459
Poland	Warsaw Stock Exchange	New Connect	355	4	3 015
Portugal	Euronext Lisbon	Euronext Access Lisbon	9	10	355
Romania	Bursa De Valori Bucuresti - BVB	AeRO	270	4	3 337
Russian Federation	Moscow Exchange - All Markets	Innovation and Investment Market	6	216	2 325
Saudi Arabia	Saudi Stock Exchange	Nomu	78	77	12 830
Singapore	Singapore Exchange	Catalist	182	16	4 825
South Africa	Cape Town Stock Exchange	Cape Town Stock Exchange	10	0.3	4
	Johannesburg Stock Exchange	AltX	10	7	295
Spain	BME Exchange	BME Growth	58	48	5 319
Sweden	Nasdaq Stockholm	First North Sweden	405	14	23 859
	Spotlight Stock Market	-	156	4	2 014
	Nordic Growth Market	Main Market	8	23	242
		Nordic SME	73	3	1 463
Switzerland	Bx Swiss Ag	-	13	37	1 382
Sri Lanka	Colombo Stock Exchange	Empower Board	NA	NA	NA
Chinese Taipei	Taipei Exchange (Gretai Exchange)	Main Board ESB	1 144	76	222 724
Thailand	Stock Exchange of Thailand	MAI	212	28	12 557
		LiVEx	NA	NA	NA
Trinidad and Tobago	Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange	SME Market	2	35	71
Türkiye	Borsa Istanbul	Sub Market	31	106	46 533
United Kingdom	Aquis Stock Exchange	-	83	7	1 500
	London Stock Exchange	AIM	704	30	92 367
United States	New York Stock Exchange	NYSE American	188	45	99 267
	Nasdaq	Nasdaq Capital Market	1 188	34	239 318
Viet Nam	Hanoi Stock Exchange	UPCoM	861	5	42 667

Table A A.2. Second-tier markets selected for certain analyses

Jurisdiction	Exchange	Second-tier market
Australia	National Stock Exchange of Australia	National Stock Exchange
Brazil	B3	Bovespa Mais
Canada	Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)	TSX Venture
China (People’s Republic of)	Shanghai Stock Exchange	STAR Market
France	Euronext Paris	Euronext Growth Paris
India	National Stock Exchange of India	Emerge Board
Indonesia	Indonesia Stock Exchange	Development Board
Italy	Euronext	Euronext Growth Milan
Japan	Tokyo Stock Exchange	Growth Market
Korea	Korea Exchange	KOSDAQ
South Africa	Johannesburg Stock Exchange	AltX
Sweden	NASDAQ Stockholm	First North Sweden

Using the classification of growth markets presented in Table A A.1, companies are categorised as either listed on the main market or a growth market. Where available, segment information from LSEG is used to determine whether a company is listed on the growth or main market of each stock exchange.

However, LSEG data often indicates only the exchange on which a company is listed, without specifying the market segment. Therefore, additional manual verification was conducted. For this manual verification, information on each company was collected directly from stock exchange websites. Company identifiers, such as ISINs, were used to match LSEG data with stock exchange information. Where company identifiers were unavailable, name matching was used to accurately assign each company to the correct market segment.

Public equity data

The information on initial public offering (IPOs) and secondary public offerings (SPOs) presented in this report is based on transaction and/or firm level data gathered from several financial databases, such as LSEG (Screener, Datastream), FactSet and Bloomberg. Considerable resources have been committed to ensuring the consistency and quality of the dataset. Different data sources are checked against each other and, whenever necessary, the information is also controlled against original sources, including regulator, stock exchange and company websites and financial statements.

Country coverage and classification

The dataset includes information about all initial public offerings (IPOs) and secondary public offerings (SPOs or follow-on offerings) by financial and non-financial companies. All public equity listings following an IPO, including the first-time listings on an exchange other than the primary exchange, are classified as an SPO. If a company is listed in more than one exchange within 180 days, those transactions are consolidated under one IPO. The country breakdown is carried out based on the domicile country of the issuer. In the dataset, the country of issue classification is also made based on the stock exchange location of the issuer. It is possible that a company becomes listed in more than one country when going public. The financial databases record a dual listing as multiple transactions for each country where the company is listed. However, there is also a significant number of cases where dual listings are reported as one transaction only based on the primary market of the listing. For this reason, the country breakdown based on the stock exchange is currently carried out based on the primary market of the issuer. The IPO and SPO data are collected on a deal basis via commercial databases in current USD values. Issuance amounts initially collected in USD were adjusted by 2023 USD Consumer Price Index.

Exclusion criteria

With the aim of excluding IPOs by trusts, funds and special purpose acquisition companies the following exclusion criteria are used:

• Financial companies that conduct trust, fiduciary and custody activities

• Asset management companies such as health and welfare funds, pension funds and their third‑party administration, as well as other financial vehicles

• Open-end investment funds

• Other financial vehicles

• Grant-making foundations

• Asset management companies that deal with trusts, estates and agency accounts

• Special Purpose Acquisition Companies

• Closed-end investment funds

• Security types classified as “units” and “trust”

• Real Estate Investment Trusts

Industry classification

LSEG uses the Reference data Business Classification (TRBC) Industry Description. The economic sectors used in the analysis are the following:

Table A A.3. . Economic sectors used in the public equity data

TRBC Economic Sector
Basic materials	Industrials
Consumer cyclicals	Real estate
Consumer non-cyclicals	Technology
Energy	Utilities
Healthcare

Growth IPO classification

IPOs are classified based on whether they occur on the growth market or on the main market of each stock exchange. This classification primarily relies on segment information from LSEG, where available. When LSEG data does not specify the segment, additional manual verification is performed by reviewing the company prospectus, as the prospectus typically indicates the exact segment on which the company is being listed. This approach ensures accurate identification of all IPOs, distinguishing those conducted on the growth market from those on the main market.