This year’s largest London IPO — an April offering from accountancy MHA Plc — raised £98 million (US$132 million). No deals have involved a major Wall Street bank; they were instead arranged by small local outfits like Cavendish Plc and Singer Capital Markets. The third-quarter picture is even starker with just US$42 million of deal volume, down 85% from the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
London has slipped out of the world’s top 20 initial public offering markets as the third quarter ends, overtaken by Mexico and Singapore in a fresh blow to its standing as a global finance hub.
The UK exchange has slipped three places to 23rd in a Bloomberg ranking of the world’s busiest IPO destinations, placing it behind the frontier market of Oman. Volume this year dropped 69% to US$248 million, the weakest haul in more than 35 years.
