LuxSE Celebrates 60 Years of Eurobonds

The Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) held its annual Stock Exchange Day at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg-Kirchberg on Wednesday 21 June 2023.

His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxembourg attended the 40th edition of this LuxSE flagship event.

This year's Stock Exchange Day was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Eurobond market, which has served as a launchpad for Luxembourg’s financial centre. More specifically, it marked 60 years since the listing of the very first Eurobond, issued by Italian motorway construction company Autostrade in July 1963.

A Eurobond is a debt instrument that is denominated in a currency different from that of the country in which it is issued. The historic $15 million bond was listed at LuxSE and marked the start of a new era in international capital markets, noted the stock exchange

The conference highlighted what 60 years of the Eurobond market has meant for Luxembourg and Europe's capital markets and gave a taste of the trends that are likely to shape the industry going forward.  

"The listing of the first Eurobond on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange 60 years ago brought Luxembourg’s financial centre onto the global stage. It was therefore natural for us to dedicate the 40th edition of our conference to the Eurobond market, and we are very pleased that HRH the Grand Duke accepted to mark this important anniversary with us. In addition to celebrating past successes, we also wanted to shed light on what the future may hold for capital markets and the importance of financing the green and digital transition," commented Julie Becker, CEO of LuxSE.

The event was split into two main parts following opening addresses by the President of LuxSE's Board of Directors, Alain Kinsch, and Luxembourg's Minister of Finance, Yuriko Backes.

The first part of the event gathered capital markets experts who covered different aspects of the early days of the Eurobond market, highlighting how it has shaped capital market developments in Luxembourg and Europe over the past 60 years. The session gathered representatives of institutions which were involved in the listing of the first Eurobond or who have contributed to the development of the Eurobond market in Luxembourg in different ways, in the past and present times. Former President of the International Capital Market Association René Karsenti, Group CFO of Autostrade per l’Italia Piergiorgio Peluso, CEO of Clearstream Banking SA Phil Brown, Former CEO of LuxSE Robert Scharfe and CEO of CIBC Capital Markets (Europe) Thomas Pellequer all took to the stage and illustrated the history of the Eurobond market through consecutive interviews with LuxSE CEO Julie Becker.

The second part zoomed in on some of the main trends likely to shape the future of capital markets. Esohe Denise Odaro, Head of ESG and Sustainability at PAI Partners, bridged the past with the present in her speech on sustainable finance and its developments in private markets. Next, Debora Revoltella, Chief Economist at the European Investment Bank (EIB), presented the audience with an economic outlook focused on the impact of the energy transition. In the final guest speech of the evening, Tina Fordham, independent geopolitical strategist, discussed the intersection of geopolitics and markets and offered advice for how business leaders can prepare for the new geopolitical risk supercycle.