Shawbrook handed a boost to the London stock market yesterday as it became the latest business to announce plans to float. The challenger bank’s initial public offering (IPO) – delayed earlier this year by market turmoil – could see it valued at up to £2billion.
The announcement came as Rachel Reeves held talks with other potential listing candidates, including banks OakNorth and Starling, at a meeting hosted by Goldman Sachs. The Chancellor is due to follow that up today at a JP Morgan ‘Tech Stars’ event in London where she will seek to highlight the merits of the UK stock market to companies including payments firm SumUp and digital lender Monzo.
She is considering a stamp duty holiday for newly-listed UK shares – though some argue that the Government must scrap the 0.5 per cent tax on share trading altogether to make London more attractive. The Treasury is under pressure to act as the City reels from a shortage of stock market listings in recent years and an exodus of firms to rival exchanges such as New York. In a vote of confidence in the UK yesterday, Shawbrook finance chief Dylan Minto said London remains a ‘very attractive’ venue for raising capital.
Beauty Tech Group – whose products are favoured by the likes of Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams – and US data centre giant Fermi made their London debuts last week. Tinned tuna firm Princes, whose brands include Branston baked beans and Napolina olive oil, has also said it plans an IPO.
And speculation is mounting that digital bank Revolut is considering a dual listing in London and New York. Laura Janssens, head of European investment banking at Berenberg, said the end of 2025 ‘could prove a turning point for the UK IPO market’.
Shawbrook said its flotation would help fund growth and help boost its profile in Britain as well as allowing its private equity backers, BC Partners and Pollen Street, to cash in some of their stake. The specialist small business lender’s listing would mark a return to the public markets for the company after it was taken over by the firms in 2017.
Fears for the future of the London market were stoked last week when pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca announced that it was going to list its shares directly on Wall Street. Recent figures suggested the City has fallen below Mexico and Singapore in the world rankings for IPO fundraisings this year.
And analysis by broker AJ Bell has identified ten London-listed firms worth £620billion that do so much business in the US, or have so many shareholders there, that they may be tempted to make the switch to New York. Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: ‘Shawbrook’s potential flotation provides another reason to be optimistic towards London again as a global financial hub.’
