All hail Haleon. Europe’s biggest stock market listing for a decade perked up what has been a sombre City over recent weeks.
Its £117 million advisory fee bonanza will keep many a London lawyer and corporate financier in second homes for another year, and provide the perfect excuse for a glass of ice cold bubbly on this hottest of trading days.
But even Haleon’s Panadol pain relief products will little to ease the headache that is London’s painfully quiet new listings market.
Figures released today by KPMG’s UK Equity Capital Markets show that just 11 companies listed in London in the first half of the year raising only £500 million, That represents a 95 percent decrease on the 40 listings raising £9.9 billion the first half of 2021.
The market did not close completely but, stripping out Haleon, there is little to suggest the IPO market - real bread and butter nourishment for the City ecosystem - will spring back to life anytime soon. For now at least the pipeline is drier than a London lawn.
The hope will be that when the volatility subsides and investor prepare to dip their toes back in the IPO market a huge back-of of flotations will make up for the business lost in 2022. We can only hope. The City does not get everything right. But its reputation as one of the world’s leading centres for new share issues was hard won and its decline would be a grievous loss.
