The listings slump in London this year adds to the city’s struggles to hold onto its former glory as one of the top destinations for global capital.<\/p>\n
According to the most recent IPO Watch report<\/a> from professional services giant PwC, IPO proceeds in the U.K. fell to \u00a3100 million in the first quarter of 2025, down<\/a> from \u00a3300 million in the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\tGet Ian King’s insights on U.K. business and the City of London directly This year alone, the city’s financial markets have been passed over by firms that had once planned blockbuster listings there. Shein, for example, is reported to be planning an IPO in Hong Kong after abandoning earlier plans to float its shares in London, while Glencore-backed metals investor Cobalt Holdings confirmed to CNBC last month that it had scrapped plans for a London IPO.<\/p>\n The troubles aren’t limited to new listings \u2013 in June, British fintech giant Wise announced<\/a> it was moving its primary listing from London to New York, and earlier this week it was reported<\/a> that pharma giant AstraZeneca<\/a> \u2013 the most valuable company on London’s FTSE 100 index \u2013 is considering moving its listing<\/a> to the United States.<\/p>\n Kristo Kaarmann, Wise’s CEO and co-founder, said in a statement at the time that the move would help raise awareness of the company in the U.S., while giving the firm better access to “the world’s deepest and most liquid capital market.”<\/p>\n Dealogic’s data highlighted a significant gap between U.S. and U.K. listings so far this year. U.S. markets saw 156 IPOs in the first six months of the year, which collectively raised $28.3 billion, the figures showed.<\/p>\n However, Samuel Kerr, head of equity capital markets at Mergermarket, told CNBC that while U.K. equity markets have “been under a cloud of negative press for some time,” there could be brighter times ahead for London.<\/p>\n “We are seeing more businesses beginning to look seriously at London listings again after several years of reform and broader uncertainty over the regulatory and policy direction of the US,” he said in an email.<\/p>\n U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has touted his government’s plans to revitalize Britain’s capital markets, pledging<\/a> to look into regulation that is “needlessly holding back investment.” Last summer, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority overhauled<\/a> listing rules in a bid to simplify the process of floating shares on the U.K. market.<\/p>\n “If London can convert early-stage interest in UK listings into successful IPOs, it will go some way to reversing some of the doom narrative,” Mergermarket’s Kerr told CNBC.<\/p>\n Janet Mui, head of market analysis at wealth manager RBC Brewin Dolphin, pointed out that exits via IPOs were slowing globally.<\/p>\n “It’s easy to be bearish when we have news like this,” she said in an email on Friday. “The reality is more nuanced, including macro uncertainty and tighter financial conditions have slowed listing globally.”<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ukexchg_widget_logo_02.png\"){kind=logo}
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