The last major barrier to a truly global capital market is crumbling. Decades after the emergence of an international marketplace for debt, equity financing is moving beyond national frontiers to link suppliers and users of share capital wherever they may be.
The Euro-equity market is still small, compared with the Euromarket in debt instruments and with many domestic equity markets. But, since 1983, it has been growing at a fast clip and, barring a stock market collapse, it seems destined to acquire an increasingly powerful momentum.
As of early October, $7.9 billion of straight Euro-equity issues - shares placed outside a company's home market - had been launched this year, compared with $3.5 billion in all of last year, $1.2 billion in 1984 and $200 million in 1983 ,according to Euromoney statistics. The growth of convertible Eurobonds and Eurobonds with equity warrants has also been robust.
Today, any leading company anywhere in the world can turn to foreign investors for new equity capital, rather than relying solely on its domestic market. Companies going public are increasingly tapping foreign savings, and institutional investors are
' scouring thc globe for stocks that will improve their return and reduce their risk.