While the first half of the year was one of the worst for equity capital markets globally, some investors are beginning to feel optimistic despite continuing tariff uncertainty and global conflicts.

Volatility is not going away, but investors are showing a resiliency in their ability to ignore headlines and continue investing in strong IPO stories and strategies. Aside from new listings, there is significant demand for large liquid block trades, particularly in Europe.

Sam Kerr, Mergermarket’s global ECM editor, joins Dealcast host Julie-Anna Needham to discuss a regional breakdown of the state of equity capital markets worldwide including:

• Which IPOs could be coming to London’s stock exchange, including names like Hg Capital’s Visma
• Why block trades are where the real business is happening in greater Europe and which private equity firms are selling down listed holdings
• Why China is beginning to look to Hong Kong for dual listings rather than the US exchanges
• Which deals may be successful on the US markets and why names like Klarna and StubHub are still struggling to come to market

All this and more in this week’s Dealcast.