Wednesday, February 15, 2023 5:00 a.m.
The head of digital lender Atom Bank has publicly thrown its weight behind London as the seat of a possible initial public offering, in a boon for the city as it seeks to try other tech slates.
The float of Durham-based Atom, which was linked to a New York listing last year, has been the subject of speculation in the Square Mile as policymakers seek to convince more local tech companies to get into the market.
Atom has suspended plans for an IPO until 2024 or 2025 due to market volatility, but in an interview with AM City Due to be released tomorrow, chief Mark Mullen has given his clearest support yet that London will be the company’s headquarters when it goes public.
“We are focused on getting the bank into a position where we can list and our assumption, our plan, is to do that in the UK, in London,” Mullen said.
He added that “there should be no ambiguity” about the company’s “default assumption” that it will float in capital.
“The only plan we ever made ourselves would be based on signing up in London,” he said.
The comments mark the clearest support for a London listing for the company and put clear distance between announced plans to list the company in New York, where it was reportedly considered to merge with a l-listed acquisition vehicle. ‘last year. Tech companies are generally seen as likely to fetch higher valuations from a deeper pool of potential investors in New York markets.
However, Mullen admitted that the matter is not yet “settled” and that the company has investors who “sometimes come knocking on the door with different ideas.”
Atom was naked in its ambition to go public and declared a £30m funding round in November, which valued the company at £460m, would help fuel its IPO ambitions. The company, which introduced a four-day working week for staff last yearsaid AM City he is optimistic that he will report his first full year of operating profits in March after posting three consecutive quarters in the black.
A London listing for Atom would be a major blow for the city as it battles with New York to win over more tech companies.
Treasury and City regulators have sought to overhaul listing rules to make London a more attractive place for tech companies, with the government-commissioned Hill Review and Austin Review notably proposing a number of business-friendly measures high growth.
THE The Financial Conduct Authority has also published an article in May last year, detailing plans to change listing rules to “attract more high-quality growth companies and provide investors with greater opportunities”.
The government has also thrown its weight behind efforts to win more tech listings in London. Both Boris Johnson, when he was Prime Minister, and Rishi Sunak backed efforts to lure Cambridge-based chipmaker Arm into a London listing after its owner, the Japanese technology giant investment Softbank, said it favored the Nasdaq exchange in New York as the company’s natural home. .