The announcement that Deliveroo will pursue a London listing in the first half of the year, valuing the food delivery firm at around $10 billion, gave the City a much-needed financial fillip.
Lord Jonathan Hill, who published his review of the UK listings regime last week, said it was “great news” a firm born and bred in Britain had plumped for a domestic stock sale.
But one swallow does not make a summer. In Hill’s recommendations, the British peer and former European commissioner for financial services noted that London accounted for just 5% of global initial public offerings (IPOs) between 2015 and 2020.
As Euromoney wrote last week, the number of companies listed in London has fallen by 40% since its peak in 2008.
The harsh truth is that the global IPO market is now a two-way fight for supremacy that pits the US against China. The rest of the world picks up the scraps.
As ever, data doesn’t lie. In the 18 months to the end of February, 810 companies listed shares on Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), collectively raising $281 billion.
