Latest news with #flotation
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Visma owners close to picking banks for £16bn London float
The owners of Visma, one of Europe's biggest software companies, are close to hiring bankers for a £16bn flotation that would rank among the London market's biggest for years. Sky News understands that Visma's board and shareholders have convened a beauty parade of investment banks in the last fortnight ahead of an initial public offering (IPO) likely to take place in 2026. Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are understood to be among those in contention for the top roles on the deal, City insiders said on Friday. Several banks are expected to be appointed as global coordinators on the IPO as soon as this month. Visma is a Norwegian company which supplies accounting, payroll, HR and other business software to well over 1 million small business customers. It has grown at a rapid rate in recent years, both organically and through scores of acquisitions, and has seen its profitability and valuation rise substantially during that period. The business is now valued at about €19bn (£16.4bn) and is partly owned by a number of sovereign wealth funds and other private equity firms. The majority of the company is owned by Hg, the London-based private equity firm which has backed a string of spectacularly successful companies in the software industry. Visma's owners' decision to pick the UK ahead of competition from Amsterdam represents a welcome boost to the City amid ongoing questions about the attractiveness of the London stock market to international companies. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, used last month's speech at Mansion House to launch a taskforce aimed at generating additional IPO activity in the UK. Spokespeople claiming to represent Visma at Kekst, a communications firm, did not respond to a series of enquiries about the IPO appointments. Hg also failed to respond to a request for comment.
Sky News
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
Visma owners close to picking banks for £16bn London float
The owners of Visma, one of Europe's biggest software companies, are close to hiring bankers for a £16bn flotation that would rank among the London market's biggest for years. Sky News understands that Visma's board and shareholders have convened a beauty parade of investment banks in the last fortnight ahead of an initial public offering (IPO) likely to take place in 2026. Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are understood to be among those in contention for the top roles on the deal, City insiders said on Friday. Several banks are expected to be appointed as global coordinators on the IPO as soon as this month. Visma is a Norwegian company which supplies accounting, payroll, HR and other business software to well over 1 million small business customers. It has grown at a rapid rate in recent years, both organically and through scores of acquisitions, and has seen its profitability and valuation rise substantially during that period. The business is now valued at about €19bn (£16.4bn) and is partly owned by a number of sovereign wealth funds and other private equity firms. The majority of the company is owned by Hg, the London-based private equity firm which has backed a string of spectacularly successful companies in the software industry. Visma's owners' decision to pick the UK ahead of competition from Amsterdam represents a welcome boost to the City amid ongoing questions about the attractiveness of the London stock market to international companies. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, used last month's speech at Mansion House to launch a taskforce aimed at generating additional IPO activity in the UK. Spokespeople claiming to represent Visma at Kekst, a communications firm, did not respond to a series of enquiries about the IPO appointments.
The Independent
10-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
MPs sound alarm over reports Shein is pushing UK listing rules to be relaxed
Watering down disclosure rules to push smooth the way for a UK flotation of fast fashion firm Shein would 'compromise the integrity' of the Britain's listing regime, MPs have warned. The cross-party Business and Trade Committee said it would be 'deeply concerned' by any changes to the disclosure requirements following reports that Shein had privately filed to list its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. It is thought the move was partly made in a bid to apply pressure on regulators to approve plans and water down disclosure rules to allow it to list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with Shein's bosses said to remain hopeful a UK flotation can be kept alive. In a letter to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), committee chairman Liam Byrne said: 'For the avoidance of doubt, I want to flag that the Committee would be deeply concerned by any watering down of disclosure requirements, especially in cases involving potential violations of international human rights standards. 'This would not only compromise the integrity of the UK's listing regime but could also risk reputational damage to the UK's financial markets and undermine investor confidence that the UK was determined to champion only the highest international labour standards, along with our allies in the United States and the European Union.' Shein has been looking to float on the LSE for more than a year, but has struggled to get the go-ahead from Chinese regulators for the move, including the China Securities Regulatory Commission. This is despite it reportedly securing approval for the listing from the FCA in March. If Shein launched an initial public offering (IPO) in the UK, it is widely thought to mark one of the biggest deals for the stock exchange in a decade. The Chinese-founded company, which is now based in Singapore, has disrupted the fast-fashion industry by shipping cheap clothes direct from factories in China to UK and US-based shoppers. However, its efforts to float on the public markets have faced a variety of obstacles, including political pressure in the UK over alleged supply chain and labour abuses. This is believed to be a key sticking point between UK and Chinese regulators failing to agree on appropriate language in the risk disclosure part of the listing prospectus. The Commons committee of MPs is asking the FCA to confirm whether it has been in talks over this matter and whether the disclosure risks are a 'material factor in any delay to Shein's listing'. It also wants to know what steps the FCA is taking to 'safeguard the robustness of disclosure standards in this and comparable cases'.
