In the first nine months of 2022 in Italy there were 21 new IPOs for a total of 1.4 billion euros ($1.38 billion), according to Patrizia Celia, Head of Market Intelligence Primary Markets Italy at Euronext, the owner of the Milan exchange.

The government in Rome had already said it was looking at overhauling listing, voting and other rules to address the "chronic delays" holding back the country's capital markets and boost Milan's ability to compete with larger European peers. While last year there were 49 IPOs, a high for the last decade, 2022 got off to a "good start" but the war in Ukraine slowed things down.

"The conflict and the macroeconomic consequences together with a drop in market valuations made it more expensive in terms of opportunity-cost ratio to take a company to the stock market, with a slowdown in IPOs,", said Celia at an event in Milan.

Electrode maker Industrie De Nora listed in June and its shares have risen since. However, energy group Eni put plans to list its Plenitude renewable business on ice because of market conditions.

Celia said some large and medium-sized companies might try to test the waters early in 2023, but added it was "more likely we should wait until May-June to see new IPOs return to the market."

She had some advice for those companies already at work on potential listings.

"It is crucial that they prove to investors that they are resilient, that they operate in sectors that will continue to grow despite the recession," she said.

($1 = 1.0173 euros)

(Reporting Sara Rossi; editing by Keith Weir)