Introduction
For any company, the decision to go public is a key milestone in
its development. By doing so, it enters the public arena and
gets access to the capital market and a much broader investor
base. However, a public company is subject to public
scrutiny, and must also fulfil stricter regulatory requirements
than a privately held company. To avoid unexpected
difficulties or even a failure of the project, an IPO candidate,
its shareholders and its executive management should prepare the
flotation carefully and familiarise themselves with the regulatory
requirements.
One of the first steps during the preparatory phase is the
selection of the listing venue, where Switzerland offers very
attractive conditions through a combination of its strong financial
centre and the stable and issuer-friendly Swiss legal and
regulatory regime. This is the case not only for companies
which were founded in Switzerland, but also for foreign
issuers. In 2018, for
