On Monday Deutsche Börse and KfW Mittelstandsbank opened the autumn edition of the German equity capital forum in Frankfurt. According to the organizers the forum with its more than 4000 participants is the most important event on capital markets and equity capital financing in Europe. The big interest sparked by the event demonstrates the importance of this subject matter in particular to small and medium-sized entities.
“German small and medium-sized entities need to focus more on equity finance”, demands Ingrid Matthäus-Maier, spokeswoman of the KfW group´s board of directors. With a view to innovation and growth small and medium-sized entities should henceforward more focus on alternative ways of financing like venture or Mezzanine capital funding. In co-operation with other market partners the KfW bank plans to offer to SMEs with relatively small capital requirements financing instruments which are jouissance rights based. These instruments may soon be launched onto the market.
The forum takes place for the tenth time already and will last until November 29th 2006. Apart from an experts forum on REITs the focal points of this year´s autumn edition are China, Russia and the Ukraine. Since 1996 Deutsche Börse and the KfW bank have been organizing the German forum on equity capital twice a year. The autumn editions address themselves to companies in advanced financing stages, whereas the spring editions focus on early-stage financing. 