Julia Hoggett, CEO, London Stock Exchange plc:
“London’s primary capital markets have had a strong start to 2021. This success illustrates the importance of public market financing to underpin growth, innovation and job creation, along with supporting the transition to a low carbon economy. The figures illustrate that we continue to offer the most efficient access to global capital for companies from the UK and around the world. As issuer and investor needs continue to evolve, we will remain focused on ensuring our markets innovate to meet those requirements.”
Charlie Walker, Head of Equity & Fixed Income Primary Markets, LSEG:
“The start of 2021 has seen record activity cementing London as the most active exchange outside of the US and Greater China. Companies raised more equity capital in London than on the next two largest European exchanges combined.
“We are particularly pleased by the diversity of companies and the strong representation from firms across the UK, as well as globally. Over half of all IPO capital raised has been by technology and consumer internet companies using public markets to support the next stage of their growth.”
In equity...
- Over £27bn of equity raised (IPO and follow-on) – highest H1 since 2014
- 49 IPOs raised over £9bn - highest number of H1 IPOs since 2017, most raised in H1 since 2014
- Continued growth in tech and consumer internet listings – accounting for more than 50% of total IPO capital raised in H1
- London public markets supporting founder led businesses, including Darktrace, In The Style, musicMagpie, PensionBee, tinyBuild and Trustpilot, the first Danish unicorn to list in London
- Victorian Plumbing joined AIM with the largest ever market capitalisation at admission (c. £850 million)
- Strong representation of companies from across the UK coming to market including Thursoe-based battery producer AMTE Power; Manchester-based In The Style; Stockport-based musicMagpie; and Edinburgh-based Parsley Box
- London has continued to attract international companies, welcoming issuers from the US, Canada, Israel, Russia, Australia and across the EU. These include Danish unicorn Trustpilot; Russian retailer Fix Price; Seattle-based video games publisher tinyBuild - the largest American company by market capitalisation to float on AIM, and Canadian Alphawave IP Group plc, the largest admission of a North American company on London Stock Exchange
- Five companies and funds – AMTE Power, Aquila Energy Efficiency Trust, Foresight Group, musicMagpie, and VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities - were recognised with London Stock Exchange’s Green Economy Mark at IPO
- Investment funds accounted for £4.5bn in equity capital raised in London in H1 2021
In fixed income...
- $262bn raised by more than 400 bond issuances in H1 2021
- 50 bonds on the Sustainable Bond Market (SBM) have raised £16.1bn to date in 2021, surpassing the total raised in 2020 (£15.9 bn via 44 bonds). SBM reached a key milestone in H1 with 300 active bonds and over $100 billion in total debt capital raised
- 40% of debt capital raised on SBM was from UK companies (up from 31% from H1 2020) - 28 bonds raising £6.5bn
- This includes issuances by Cadent, the first company to add its bonds to the new climate-focused Transition Bond Segment; and Tesco which issued the first Sustainability Linked Bond on SBM
- Over $10bn raised through sukuk on London Stock Exchange, including the UK’s second sovereign sukuk issuance (£500m), up from $2.5bn in H1 2020
- LSEG raised $7bn in a multi-currency multi-tranche syndicated transaction using digital platforms Flow and SparkLive
In Exchange Traded Products...
- 168 ETP listings in H1 2021, up from 92 in H1 2020
- 1,358 ETFs and 382 ETCs/ETNs listed on London Stock Exchange
- Over half of London ETF listings were ESG-linked funds - 41 ESG ETF listings in H1 2021, up from 25 in H1 2020
- There are now 204 ESG ETFs listed on London Stock Exchange, one of the fastest growing finance instruments on our markets
