'Hammer blow' to the City as UK fintech firm Wise announces it is to switch its primary listing to New York

Daily Mail​

a day ago

UK fintech firm Wise is to switch its primary listing from London to New York in what was described yesterday as a 'hammer blow' to the City.
The decision to up sticks adds to a transatlantic exodus as companies seek higher valuations in the American stock market.
It deepens the sense of decline for London's beleaguered equity markets – hours after metal investment firm Cobalt axed plans for a UK flotation.
Wise boss Kristo Kaarmann acknowledged efforts to reform Britain's listing rules but said the move was due to the US having the world's biggest capital markets, enabling more investors to buy shares.
'We kind of have to accept the reality of where the world's capital is concentrated,' he said.
The money transfer company said it was not turning its back on the UK, where a fifth of its employees are based, and would continue hiring and investing in the country. It will also maintain a secondary listing in London.
But Charles Hall, head of research at broker Peel Hunt, said: 'For Britain's leading fintech, founded in London, headquartered in London, to decide to turn its back on the London market can be seen as nothing but a hammer blow.'
A leading City fund manager told the Mail that it was a 'devastating' setback to the London Stock Exchange, given hopes that Wise was on course to join the FTSE 100.
'There's the loss of prestige and substantial loss of tax revenue through stamp duty – but what message does it set for other successful fintech businesses in the UK?' he said. 'This is an area we should dominate.'
Wise follows equipment hire group Ashtead, gambling giant Flutter, building materials firm CRH and plumber Ferguson in abandoning London. At the same time big FTSE names from Hargreaves Lansdown to Deliveroo have been snapped up by foreign predators.
And a dearth of new initial public offerings (IPO) means the departing companies are not being replaced, leaving London increasingly bereft.
The decision by Unilever to spin off its ice cream business in Amsterdam as well as fast fashion giant Shein's likely abandonment of a London IPO in favour of Hong Kong are among the latest blows.
Wise, founded in 2011 as TransferWise, listed under its new name in 2021 with an £8billion valuation, or 800p per share.
The shares have had a rocky ride but were still a third up on Wise's debut valuation before yesterday's announcement.
That stoked a further rise of as much as 13 per cent, before the stock eventually closed 7.1 per cent, or 77p, higher at 1160p.
The announcement came alongside results showing a 17 per cent rise in underlying profits to £282million for the year to the end of March.
Other major fintech firms including Klarna and Revolut also look set to favour New York. Klarna had already lined up a US IPO before shelving it earlier this year.
Alphawave takeover talks extended
US semiconductor giant Qualcomm has been given more time to secure a deal to buy the British tech starlet Alphawave.
The Takeover Panel agreed to extend the deadline for the Americans to table a formal bid to for a fifth time – to 5pm on Monday.
The decision came ahead of the latest deadline of 5pm yesterday, and Alphawave shares rose 2.4 per cent, or 3.4p to 145p, valuing it at £1.1billion.
Both companies said they 'remain engaged in discussions' over a possible deal.