Swiss online classified advertising company Swiss Marketplace Group (SMG) announced on Tuesday its plans to list on the SIX Swiss Exchange within the coming weeks, marking the anticipated beginning of a European initial public offering (IPO) wave.

Swiss Marketplace Group operates online classified advertising and auction platforms. Its shareholders include Swiss media company TX Group, which holds a 30.7% stake, and private equity firm General Atlantic, which owns an undisclosed minority stake.

According to three sources familiar with the matter, the IPO could raise approximately 1 billion Swiss francs for existing shareholders, with the company expected to be valued at around 4.5 billion Swiss francs ($5.6 billion), with at least 20% of shares to be sold to external investors.

Swiss Marketplace Group has not commented on the specific financial terms or exact timing of the IPO.

Equity capital market advisors predict that after IPO activity fell into a slump due to uncertainty surrounding former U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies, the Zurich and Frankfurt stock exchanges will lead the IPO market recovery.

The sources indicated that Swiss Marketplace Group's business focus on the Swiss domestic market allows it to avoid the impact of tariff volatility, making it well-suited to test the market's receptiveness to newly listed companies. These individuals requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Swiss Marketplace Group's IPO will adopt a "secondary offering" model, meaning all proceeds will go to selling shareholders.

According to transaction term documents obtained, selling parties include the company's controlling shareholders - Swiss insurance company Mobiliar, media company Ringier, and General Atlantic, all of whom plan to sell undisclosed amounts of shares. TX Group stated in a announcement that it will not sell its holdings.

Typically, companies require approximately four weeks from announcing IPO plans to achieving public trading of shares.

Founded in 2021, Swiss Marketplace Group is Switzerland's largest operator of real estate and automotive sales websites. In 2024, the company achieved sales of 291 million Swiss francs with an adjusted operating margin of 48%.

For 2025, Swiss Marketplace Group expects sales growth of 13% to 15%, with operating margins in the mid-50% range.

The IPO is being led by J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and UBS Group AG, with participation from Barclays, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Zuercher Kantonalbank, and Evercore.

In the Swiss domestic market, the company operates several well-known websites, including real estate platforms homegate.ch and Immoscout24, as well as automotive platform Autoscout24 for car buyers.

Foreign companies with similar business models include Germany's Scout 24, the UK's Rightmove, Sweden's Hemnet, and Baltic Classifieds Group.

This listing may signal a recovery in the European IPO market. Year-to-date, the European IPO market has remained subdued, raising only $7.2 billion, far below the $63 billion raised in 2021.

Previous reporting indicated that closely watched German IPO candidates include prosthetics manufacturer Ottobock and ISS Stoxx, the research and technology division of Deutsche Börse.