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Fears of a London Stock Exchange exodus were reignited once more on Wednesday as two firms prepared to quit the London market.
Credit and legal services firm Anexo Group laid out plans to delist from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) after citing the costs of being a publicly traded company and lack of investor interest.
According to the British Business Bank a listing on London’s junior stock market costs at least £500,000 followed by £100,000 annually to maintain.
Alabama Bidco Limited, which owns 75.8 per cent of Anexo, is set to vote in favour of the listing making the resolution almost certain.
The company is expected to become a private equity by October 16.
Meanwhile, global financial services company International Personal Finance (IPF) is in discussions with New York private equity BasePoint Capital for a takeover that would take it off the City market.
The deadline for BasePoint to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or to state that it will not have been extended to September 24.
Whilst no formal deal has been sealed, IPF remains in an “offer period”.
Listing drought continues into 2025
The fresh delisting fears follow FTSE 250 firm IG launching a “Save our Stock market” initiative – aptly dubbed the SOS campaign – which served as an “urgent rallying cry to policymakers” to reverse the market’s decline.
The demands to increase capital flows included scrapping the stamp duty on shares, which IG labelled a “self-inflicted wound” that “unfairly penalises UK investors”.
It comes after 88 firms either delisted or transferred their primary listing in 2024 – the biggest exodus since the financial crisis. The exodus included the likes of Paddy Power owner Flutter and tech darling Dark Trace.
This year, the City market has lost its biggest fintech, money transfer firm Wise which has ditched its primary listing in favour of the US. Foreign takeovers have also swept the market as overseas giants prey on British bargains. This included a trio of tech takeovers, all within the span of 24 hours, earlier this month, that will represent a combined £6.3bn in M&A transactions.
Writing in City AM, Charles Hall, head of research at Peel Hunt, said: “We need to recognise that we are actively competing for capital and for companies. A nice stadium is great, but we need to ensure that all the other ingredients are right to ensure we have a winning team.”