Deliveroo Debut Declared “Worst IPO In London’s History”, Sign Of Amsterdam’s Growing Dominance
TYLER DURDEN, 02 April 2021
It’s official: the Financial Times (citing an informal polling of anonymous bankers) has declared Deliveroo’s botched London offering the “worst IPO in London’s history.”
As we reported yesterday, shares of the food-delivery competitor, which is struggling to grow market share at all costs in a battle for survival with Uber Eats and “Just Eat Takeaway”, tanked in their public-markets debut, sliding 31% after pricing at the bottom of their range. Bankers immediately started complaining to reporters about being misled by Deliveroo’s bankers, who had initially bragged that the company would price at the high end of the range. The debut, marketed as a major coup for the LSE and London markets, which are struggling for European supremacy with Euronext Amsterdam, more generally, has turned into a major embarrassment for the industry.
As carnage in Deliveroo shares continued Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Amsterdam remains the top European stock trading hub in Europe in March, stretching its dominance into a third straight month (as Brexit cut trading volume in London in half starting in January) . On average, 10.68 billion euros ($12.5 billion) of shares a day were traded on various Dutch venues in March, compared with 10.62 billion euros ($12.47 billion) in London, according to data from Cboe Europe.
Now, bankers in the City are afraid the Deliveroo disaster will ward off any other companies that might have wanted to list in London, effectively sealing the industry’s fate. And unsurprisingly, they’re blaming pernicious short sellers, who “sabotaged” the listing (keep in mind, though the quotes are sourced to anonymous, it’s likely this is coming from the people behind the deal).
