Acknowledging the pivotal role that law firms and professional services firms play in primary capital markets, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange has introduced LuxSE Partner, a dedicated partnership status designed for law firms and professional services firms supporting issuers in navigating the issuance and listing process.

Up until now, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) offered membership statuses which are exclusively eligible for credit institutions. Recognising the need to engage other key stakeholders in the primary capital market ecosystem and the increasingly important role they play in the core activities of the exchange, LuxSE has now created the LuxSE Partner status.  

This initiative aims to foster even closer ties with law firms, consulting firms, and other professional services firms to streamline operational synergies in primary capital markets and enable deeper collaboration across the ecosystem. The LuxSE Partner status will coexist alongside LuxSE's traditional Membership statuses. 

Four leading law firms – A&O Shearman Luxembourg, Dublin-based Arthur Cox, Luxembourg-based Elvinger Hoss Prussen and GSK Stockmann – have already obtained LuxSE Partner status, underscoring the strong interest in this initiative. 

Accelerating and simplifying listings 
Through the LuxSE Partner status, LuxSE offers a range of benefits to prepare, ease and speed up the listing of financial securities issued by the LuxSE Partners’ clients. The overall goal is to offer an enhanced listing experience for issuers, strengthen business cooperation, improve knowledge sharing and information flow with the firms joining the LuxSE Partners initiative, and contribute to making access to international capital markets more efficient.  

Closer cooperation across the ecosystem 
LuxSE is the undisputed world’s leading exchange for the listing of international debt securities, with over 44.000 securities registered on its official list and 12.700 new listings year to date as of October 2024. The exchange has a broad, international footprint and serves issuers across 100 countries.

The LuxSE Partner status aims to facilitate the listing process for issuers and bring additional benefits to law firms and professional services firms, including an accelerated listing process, enhanced access to market intelligence and privileged access to LuxSE training programmes, particularly in the field of sustainable finance.

Arnaud Delestienne, Director of International Capital Markets and Member of the Executive Committee at LuxSE, explained: “We are excited to strengthen our cooperation with prominent law firms and consulting firms through our new LuxSE Partner status. By working closer together, we can enhance the listing experience for issuers and ultimately make access to international capital markets easier. These law firms and consulting firms increasingly play a crucial role in primary capital markets activities, and the launch of the LuxSE Partner status is an acknowledgment of this.”  

Frank Mausen and Paul Péporté, Partners in the global financial markets practice at A&O Shearman, agree: "Being an inaugural member of the LuxSE Partner initiative is a significant step forward in recognising the role that law firms like A&O Shearman play as advisors to the primary capital markets. This new membership status not only acknowledges our contributions but also facilitates a more streamlined and efficient listing process for our clients. We look forward to the enhanced cooperation and benefits it brings." 

Helen Berrill, Director of Listings at Arthur Cox, commented: “We are delighted to be recognised as a LuxSE Partner and to support the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in this innovative initiative. The new status is a testament to LuxSE’s commitment to fostering collaboration across the primary capital markets’ ecosystem. By streamlining the listing process and creating tailored solutions, this initiative will enhance efficiency and create added value for market participants. We look forward to leveraging this partnership to deliver seamless and high-quality support to our clients.”

Philippe Hoss, Karl Pardaens and Thierry Kauffman, Partners in the Capital Markets practice of Elvinger Hoss Prussen, commented: “We are looking forward to entering this new partnership introduced by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and to be one of the first law firms with a LuxSE Partner status. This new partnership will benefit our clients active in primary capital markets by facilitating and accelerating the issuance and listing process. As a legal advisor advising on all kinds of capital markets transactions, we welcome this initiative that will enhance the experience of listing financial securities on the world’s leading listing venue for international debt securities.”

Andreas Heinzmann, Partner at GSK Stockmann in Luxembourg, stated: “We at GSK Stockmann are delighted to support the work with our new LuxSE Partner status. This platform will provide a great opportunity to share expertise and strengthen cooperation with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and other professional services firms in relation to the primary capital markets activities. We are looking forward to working together and to connect.”

For more information about the LuxSE Partner status, visit the dedicated webpage.