The Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) has taken a significant step forward with the launch of EM3S—its new segment on the Euro MTF market—strategically designed for professional investors dealing with highly sensitive financial instruments. Short for Euro MTF – Sensitive Securities, EM3S provides a discreet and confidential listing environment tailored to bespoke structured products, private placements, and asset-backed securities. In doing so, it opens up new doors not just for European issuers, but for global infrastructure initiatives—particularly in Africa.
This initiative is not just another niche platform; it’s a robust response to the increasing demand for tailored and confidential capital markets access, enabling dealmakers to structure, list, and distribute complex financial instruments without disclosing commercially sensitive terms in the public domain.
EM3S: Confidential, Flexible, and Professional
The EM3S platform is engineered to support financial instruments that fall outside the traditional mold. Issuers can now list products featuring unique payout formulas, or capital structures designed for specific investors, such as sovereign wealth funds, institutional allocators, and infrastructure development banks.
The confidential listing nature of EM3S provides regulatory certainty while ensuring the commercial terms of the instruments—such as interest rates, tranches, and collateral mechanisms—remain shielded from market competitors. This makes EM3S particularly well-suited for cross-border infrastructure finance, where deal sensitivity, political nuances, and long-term risk-sharing arrangements are often embedded within the documentation.
A Golden Opportunity for African Infrastructure Projects
The launch of EM3S comes at an opportune moment for African nations seeking foreign investment to bridge their massive infrastructure gaps. The African Development Bank estimates the continent needs over $170 billion annually to meet its infrastructure needs, with a financing shortfall of more than $100 billion.
This is where Luxembourg’s ecosystem, particularly through LuxSE and the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), becomes a game-changing advantage. The LGX, already a global leader in sustainable finance, offers unmatched transparency, ESG-compliance tools, and investor visibility for green, social, and sustainability-linked bonds. When combined with the new EM3S platform, African governments and private sector developers can raise capital through customized debt and equity structures that maintain commercial confidentiality while gaining access to Europe’s deep pool of capital.
PwC Data Confirms Luxembourg’s Dominance
Recent insights from PwC’s Global Fund Distribution 2025 report solidify Luxembourg’s role as the preeminent jurisdiction for cross-border capital raising. According to the report, Luxembourg commands 52.3% of cross-border fund domiciliation globally, far surpassing Ireland (33%) and France (6%). It also dominates the UCITS and AIF markets, with over €5 trillion in UCITS AuM and a fast-growing footprint in private markets and ESG-linked investments.
Importantly, the report highlights that Luxembourg funds have over 143,000 cross-border registrations across more than 90 countries, making them the most widely distributed investment vehicles in the world. This extensive distribution footprint ensures that capital raised in Luxembourg can be syndicated and marketed with ease to investors across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and even parts of Africa.
For African issuers, particularly those aligned with ESG and sustainability goals, LGX serves as a natural platform to showcase their green and impact credentials, while EM3S adds the final layer of confidentiality and structure required to engage with global financiers on complex transactions.
The Right Tools for the Right Time
Luxembourg’s cross-border ecosystem—encompassing legal, regulatory, and fund distribution expertise—is fully aligned with the evolving capital needs of emerging markets. Whether it’s a solar park in Burkina Faso, a copper mine in Zambia, or a pan-African digital infrastructure rollout, Luxembourg offers issuers the tools to craft bespoke financing instruments, list them under EM3S, and showcase them to ESG-focused global investors via LGX.
The combination of LuxSE’s EM3S segment and LGX’s sustainability platform is the ideal mechanism for raising and structuring capital for Africa’s next wave of infrastructure growth. These offerings are not theoretical; they are operational, backed by global management groups and supported by PwC Luxembourg’s cross-border fund distribution network, which spans more than 40 countries.
Conclusion: Why Investors Should Look to Luxembourg
LuxSE’s EM3S launch underscores Luxembourg’s ability to continuously innovate and support complex financial needs in a highly regulated, globalized world. It is particularly advantageous for African infrastructure developers and public-private partnerships seeking structured financing solutions without compromising commercial confidentiality.
With over 50% of cross-border fund domiciliation, the most expansive distribution network globally, and a dedicated green finance platform through LGX, Luxembourg is the go-to destination for raising capital in today’s competitive landscape.
Invest Offshore continues to spotlight the world’s most effective capital markets platforms—and for Africa’s infrastructure revolution, Luxembourg has just raised the bar.
Invest Offshore has exclusive investment opportunities in West Africa seeking funding for large-scale infrastructure projects and mining concessions in the Central African Copperbelt. Contact us to learn more.
Leave a Reply