Jeremy Hunt is convening a summit aimed at attracting more companies to the London stock market, amid an accelerating exodus of companies being attacked by financial predators and foreigners.
Sky News has learned that the Treasury has invited the heads of some of Britain’s most prominent private companies to attend a meeting next month at Dorneywood, the chancellor’s weekend country residence.
Sources said the day-long event on May 16 would target entrepreneurs behind potential equity candidates in the fintech and biotechnology sectors.
Bim Afolami, the city’s minister, and Lord Petitgas, the prime minister’s chief business adviser, will also be present, along with senior government officials and London Stock Exchange executives, the sources added.
In the invitation, a copy of which was seen by Sky News, the Treasury said participants and the Chancellor would “discuss the UK capital markets and how they can support innovative, high-growth companies like yours to achieve their growth ambitions “.
“The UK’s capital markets play a fundamental role in our economy: driving growth, creating jobs and facilitating investment.
“The government is committed to ensuring the UK remains the best place for businesses to grow and is already taking forward an ambitious program of reforms to improve the UK’s competitiveness.”
Dozens of companies, including digital banks such as Monzo and Starling Bank, would be on the guest list.
The Dorneywood summit has been planned for several months, according to officials, who denied that it was being organized in response to a glut of companies announcing in recent weeks that they would receive takeover bids or that they would unilaterally withdraw from the market. London Market.
The approaches this week by Anglo American, the £30 billion mining giant, and Darktrace, the cybersecurity company, have exacerbated the impression of a growing “de-equitisation” of the UK stock market.
While none of these deals have yet been formally agreed, a number of others have, including International Paper’s bid for DS Smith, the FTSE-100 paper and packaging group, which was revealed by Sky News last month.
Other companies that have struck deals with suitors include Virgin Money, which is to be bought by Nationwide in a £3bn deal.
What’s more, Royal Mail parent International Distributions Services and music royalties company Hipgnosis Songs Fund are receiving serious takeover approaches.
While frenzied periods of mergers and acquisitions are far from unusual, bankers and investors point to a dearth of attractive new opportunities to raise capital because the flow of initial public offerings has been so slow.
Many of the companies London hoped to attract, including private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and chip designer ARM Holdings, have chosen to list in Amsterdam and New York, respectively.
The perception of London’s decline is being compounded by board decisions to move its current UK listings to other international exchanges, with TUI Travel and Flutter Entertainment, the gaming group behind Paddy Power, among those who have relegated their presence to the London market.
The heads of companies as large as Shell, the oil giant, have also begun to publicly acknowledge their frustration at what they see as a gulf between their intrinsic value and that which public markets are assigning to them.
Keep up with the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Earlier this month, the head of E-Therapeutics, a fast-growing but loss-making biotechnology company, described the London stock market as “broken and closed” as he announced plans to delist it and pursue an IPO in New York at a future date. .
This weekend, a government source said the Dorneywood meeting would be important because it would highlight to fast-growing British companies that listing overseas is “not all milk and honey”.
Several UK-based companies – such as Arrival, Cazoo and Benevolent AI – that went public in Europe and the US during the now-fading boom in special purpose acquisition companies – saw their valuations plummet, with some subsequently cancel their listings. .
“We need to explain to companies why London capital markets are the right place for these companies to go public,” said a government source.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “The Chancellor is meeting with a range of companies to hear their thoughts on UK markets and what more the government and regulators can do to support their growth.”
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25572450/080124_HP_OmniBook_X_ADiBenedetto_0002.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1 "HP OmniBook X 14 review: A business laptop by any other name")
