€19bn Visma picks London for tech IPO in rare win for UK stock market

Norwegian software firm Visma has provisionally picked London for its IPO next year. It could mark a rare win for the UK’s troubled stock market — if Downing Street pulls through on its promised reforms. 

British private equity firm Hg acquired a 70% stake in Visma in 2006 at a £380mn (€445mn) valuation. The company, which makes accounting, payroll, and HR software products, is now worth an estimated €19bn. 

Visma previously considered listing in Amsterdam but has since turned its sights to the British capital, according to the Financial Times. 

Its IPO would run counter to the recent trend of companies shifting their primary listing away from the London Stock Exchange (LSE), delisting entirely, or bypassing the exchange in favour of New York.

Earlier this month, British fintech Wise said it would move its primary listing to New York. UK chip designer Arm chose to go public there in 2023, while Sweden’s Klarna has also confirmed plans to go public in the Big Apple. 

In 2024, 88 companies either delisted or shifted their primary listing away from London’s main market, while just 18 new firms joined, according to the LSE’s own data.

Analysts previously told TNW that tech firms are drawn across the Atlantic by bigger valuations, deeper capital markets, and more investor appetite for risk.

In order to reverse the exodus, the British government made significant changes to company listing rules last year in a bid to make the IPO process smoother. 

Poppy Gustafsson, the UK government’s minister for investment and former CEO of cybersecurity firm Darktrace, said much of the work has been done trying to revive the IPO market. 

“There are some good potential IPOs that are queuing up,” she told delegates at the annual Investment Association conference in London today, Financial News London reports.

Visma, however, wants additional listing reforms in place before committing to a London listing, according to the Financial Times. The company said its IPO was contingent on a deeper implementation of the rules.