A very warm welcome to the Edison conference book for the Deutsches Eigenkapitalforum 2019. Following a record year for IPOs in 2018, this year has been rather disappointing so far. Year-todate values are down by 40% in Europe compared to 2018. The picture is similar in Germany. Moreover, IPO performance is not very encouraging, with each of the four IPOs in Germany trading below issue price. However, TeamViewer’s listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange provides one of the few bright spots in the IPO environment in the third quarter, putting Deutsche Börse first in Europe with regard to issue volume. From a German perspective, it is very pleasing that the domestic exchange can support large tech IPOs. With a number of IPOs being cancelled or postponed, the market is already looking ahead to next year. At this point, 2020 could be a very successful year for new listings, with several landmark transactions in the pipeline like Continental Powertrain, Siemens Energy and Wintershall DEA. Needless to say, all this depends on the global economic environment. Equity markets are clearly buoyed by politics at present. Looking at the factors driving markets and sentiment, it is striking that many are the same as last year. Brexit has not been resolved and trade disputes continue. Investors have been factoring a risk premium into asset prices for those political developments for more than a year.