Nasdaq brought together investors, issuers, bankers, and policymakers at Epicenter Stockholm for its latest Capital Market Forum, a half-day gathering focused on the themes shaping European capital markets today.
The April 23 forum drew leading voices from across the financial ecosystem, including portfolio managers, chief executives, sustainability officers, and capital markets advisors, for a morning of panels, interviews, and discussion.
The agenda reflected the moment. With geopolitical uncertainty running high, defense spending accelerating across Europe, and the IPO market showing meaningful signs of recovery, the questions on the table were urgent and consequential: Where is capital flowing? What does it take to access the markets today? What role can Stockholm and the broader Nordic region play as a hub for European finance?
From the resurgence of IPO activity to the financing demands of a rapidly growing defense industry, the conversations were wide-ranging and timely. Here were the some of the takeaways on the ground:
Aditi Venkatram, Managing Director, Equity Capital Markets at Jefferies
The IPO market is back, but on investors’ terms
After a prolonged period of wait-and-see, the IPO market is showing real signs of life. Aditi Venkatram, Managing Director, Equity Capital Markets at Jefferies, described the shift as a “proactive and driven resurgence in activity,” defined by heightened selectivity, noting that the pipeline for 2026 and 2027 is encouraging, with the Nordics front and center in the European picture. But the bar has risen.
“The threshold that investors are seeking now is quality of earnings,” she said, “and those companies that demonstrate stability and structural growth and that really stand out as potential public market leaders are those that will be very, very successful.”
For growth stories, investors want to see achievable financial targets and a clear plan for capital deployment. For income-based stories, she said, they want a defined dividend or buyback plan that delivers total shareholder return from day one.
Phil Mackintosh, Nasdaq’s Chief Economist
Stockholm has built something the rest of Europe wants to replicate
Phil Mackintosh, Nasdaq’s Chief Economist, pointed to what makes Stockholm’s financial ecosystem genuinely distinctive: the alignment of supply and demand.
Sweden’s pension funds have long channeled capital into domestic companies, creating a virtuous cycle of company formation and investor wealth creation that he described as “the envy of Europe.” That model is now attracting attention from other European markets looking to build comparable ecosystems.
Looking further out, Mackintosh flagged AI as a critical variable. “It could be the internet all over again,” he said — a potential tailwind for productivity, employment, and investment, and a reason for Stockholm to stay on the technological forefront as new companies come to market.
A separate panel looked at the rise of the Nordic high yield bond market, which now accounts for an estimated 17% of the European high yield market. Speakers from Pareto, Lannebo, and issuer companies discussed why bonds are increasingly attractive for growth-stage companies, what milestones companies need to reach before tapping the market, and why international issuers are looking to Stockholm as a listing venue.
The consensus: Sweden is becoming a more important hub for European high yield capital, and that trend shows little sign of reversing.
Eva Axelsson, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAAB
Defense financing is evolving, and transparency is key to unlocking capital
Another topical discussion at the forum centered on the rapidly growing defense industry and the capital it requires. Panelists from SAAB, SEB, AMF, and the Nordic Investment Bank explored where financing gaps remain and what it will take to close them.
A recurring theme was the role of transparency frameworks in building investor confidence, and how the conversation around defense has already shifted. Eva Axelsson, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAAB, described the change plainly: where discussions once centered on whether a defense-focused fund could even be considered sustainable, they now focus on how defense companies manage their risks through export controls, anti-corruption practices, and supply chain responsibility.
“We have seen a huge change in how we are viewed from the investor market,” she said.
For smaller defense and deeptech companies, Axelsson’s advice was direct: “They need to communicate about policies and processes and create trust around that.”
Nasdaq’s own defense bond framework, designed to create common transparency standards and earmark capital for defense, resilience, and critical infrastructure, was highlighted as a model for how structured disclosure can support long-term capital flow more freely into the sector.
In volatile markets, preparation and flexibility are everything
Carl Rosenius, Danske Bank’s Head of Corporate Finance Sweden, offered a practical framework for companies considering a capital raise in the current environment.
“Windows of opportunity to raise capital in the markets open and shut much faster than historically,” he said. “So, you need to be prepared, maybe earlier than you thought, and have a Plan B if the window is not open.”
That means building a longer operational runway and, above all, developing a clear and convincing investment case well in advance. “In a volatile market, it’s even more important for a company to have a clear, concise, and convincing investment case,” he added. “You need to cut through the noise in the market when investors are quite uncertain about the future.”
Final word
Taken together, the conversations at Nasdaq Capital Market Forum painted a picture of a European capital market in transition: one that is becoming more selective, more sophisticated, and more attuned to the geopolitical and technological forces reshaping the global economy.
Stockholm, with its deep investor base, strong equity culture, and growing role in both high-yield and defense financing, is well positioned to be at the center of that shift.
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