The Euro's Warm Up Act: Ip Os

Cologne-based Interseroh has a dream: to become a kingpin of European trash. Germany's biggest paper and metal recycler, with some $300 million in annual sales, just bought out a French rival. Now, it's raising $70 million in its first public stock issue to finance other acquisitions across the Continent. "With the single currency coming, we see opportunities," declares Andreas Schmidt, a member of Interseroh's board.

It's boom time for new share issues in Europe, and trash recyclers aren't the only ones ripe to do deals. Companies big and small need cash to finance the cross-border expansion that will give them a more global reach and to gain an edge when Europe adopts its single currency. And since Europe's stock markets today are the hottest in the world, unprecedented numbers of companies are looking to them for capital rather than taking out old-fashioned bank loans.