Overview
Steven Haywood, Counsel at law firm McDermott Will & Emery, said:
“Whilst it many ways it is welcome to remove the concept of standard and premium listing given investors are much more likely to look at whether a company is in the FTSE 100 or FTSE 250 or is more generally listed on the LSE (listing in itself considered to be protection rather than if it was standard or premium) this is unlikely to do much for attracting early stage and start-up companies to the UK (if that is the FCA’s aim) given the main source of capital for early stage companies is private investment rounds and private capital. Instead, the FCA should focus its role as regulator on creating a business environment in which private fund managers and private capital want to be in the UK in the first place and then investment into these types of companies will follow as a result of that. Listing is just one of many options that companies have to raise capital and grow their businesses using their own shares as currency and listing on whatever market is and always has been generally more suited to established companies. Why companies are not looking at listing in the UK generally is more likely systemic reasons including the state of capital markets generally at the moment and of course, the elephant in the room that is Brexit – the latter evidenced only yesterday by comments made in relation to Arm’s decision to choose New York over London and tweaking around the edges by the FCA like this is not going to go far in reversing this sentiment.”
