Class of 2025? The IPO hopefuls that would revive London | USAEMALL.com

This year is a crunch year for the London market. Nearly four years after Lord Hill’s review of UK listing rules kick-started reform efforts, the stock market remains in the doldrums.

New companies listing in London raised the least amount of money on record in 2024, at just £737mn according to Dealogic data, underscoring the challenges in revitalising the market. Fewer than 20 companies listed in the UK capital last year, the lowest number of additions to its stock market since the financial crisis in 2009.

As more companies choose to add or move listings to the US in search of greater liquidity and higher valuations, UK policymakers are urgently trying to revive London with reforms to regulations and measures to encourage pension funds to invest in UK stocks.

Amid lacklustre markets and political uncertainty, much-anticipated listings by fintech companies were delayed last year. Some, including eBay-backed payments company Zilch, are moving towards initial public offerings but not until 2026. Others, such as trading app eToro and buy-now-pay-later group Klarna, plan to go public in the US.

Those who have spearheaded efforts to revitalise the UK market, led by London Stock Exchange chief executive Julia Hoggett, have maintained the IPO market would pick up this year. But already, advisers say, hopes are withering that 2025 will prove a boom year.

The Financial Times has compiled the companies that could list in London this year.

Fintech

Ebury

The payments start-up owned by Spanish bank Santander has appointed investment banks including Goldman Sachs to lead work on a London IPO that could value the group at about £2bn.

Ebury was founded in 2009 by Spanish engineers Juan Lobato and Salvador García. It offers services including cross-border payments, payroll transfers, currency risk management and business lending.

The flotation will be closely watched by the rest of the UK fintech sector following the disastrous performance of rival CAB Payments, whose shares plunged more than 70 per cent just three months after its 2023 listing.

Zopa

SoftBank-backed digital lender Zopa is expected to seek a listing after reaching profitability last year. The company was founded in 2005 as a peer-to-peer lender but has since pivoted into banking and offers savings accounts, car finance and personal loans. It was last valued at more than $1bn in a December 2024 fundraise.

Chief executive Jaidev Janardana has previously expressed a preference for London as a listing venue. However, a person close to the company cautioned executives had not set a timeline for an IPO. Zopa could be ready to float soon, they said, but would wait for the right market conditions.

ClearScore

ClearScore, the credit-checking platform founded in 2015 by Justin Basini, is one of the rare fintechs to have expressed commitment to London as a listing destination, with a flotation one option “under consideration”.

“If we did go down this route, we see London as our natural home given our household brand status, strong profitability and user scale in this market,” the company told the Financial Times. The company was last valued at $700mn in a 2021 funding round and is backed by venture capital firm QED Investors.

ClearScore welcomed regulatory reforms to boost investment in the UK and said it “[believes] that a future of thriving publicly listed profitable fintechs in London is an exciting prospect”. The potential listing could well come in 2026, however.

Financial services

Parameta

British interdealer broker TP ICAP is considering listing its data unit, Parameta, which sells market data to institutional investors and could be valued at as much as £1.5bn. It comes after TP ICAP faced pressure from investors to spin off the fast-growing unit.

However, the group’s chief executive last year said he was weighing up different options for Parameta, including going public in New York instead of London. It “might entail a listing in the US”, he said, adding “there is, of course, no certainty about either a public offering or its location”.

Shawbrook

The private equity owners of UK small business lender Shawbrook are considering listing the company in London, aiming for a £2bn valuation. BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital bought the bank in 2017 and are weighing listing it in the first half of 2025. The company in 2022 shelved plans for a sale after record-high inflation and surging energy costs hit the lender’s customers.

Industrials

Metlen Energy & Metals

In mid-December, Greece-based Metlen Energy & Metals filed paperwork to add a primary listing on the LSE. Currently trading on the Athens market, Metlen’s chair said the conglomerate has “had a presence in the UK and international markets for many years” and listing in London “will be in the best interests of both Metlen and its shareholders”.

AirBaltic

Latvian flag carrier AirBaltic has said London would be a serious contender if it goes ahead with a much-delayed IPO this year.

The airline plans to list in its home market of Riga but its chief executive met the LSE’s boss last month to discuss the possibility of a dual listing in London. Despite this, Martin Gauss, CEO of AirBaltic, has said other European bourses including Amsterdam and Frankfurt are also options, if the airline does go ahead with a flotation.

Consumer

Shein

Online fast-fashion group Shein may pursue a blockbuster listing in London this year, potentially valuing the company at about £50bn. The company, founded in China and headquartered in Singapore, filed confidential papers last year for a proposed IPO and is still waiting for regulatory nods in the UK and China.

In October, its reclusive billionaire founder Sky Xu met investors in the UK and the US in anticipation of a flotation. If Shein gets the green light for an IPO, it would likely be in the first half of this year, one person with knowledge of the meetings said at the time. At first it targeted New York but shifted to London after being rebuffed by US regulators. The company may also target a dual listing in Hong Kong.

Unilever ice cream

Unilever plans to list its €15bn ice cream division but has not confirmed where an IPO would take place.

“We’re talking to governments, to authorities, but also to stock exchanges, the banks, etc,” chief executive Hein Schumacher told the FT, adding that the door remained open to potential buyers. The company will confirm its plans in the first half of this year.

The listing could revive an old rivalry between London and Amsterdam over Unilever. The Magnum and Marmite maker previously had listings in both cities but scrapped its dual corporate structure in 2020, transferring to a single listing in London.

Additional reporting by Laura Onita, Madeleine Speed and Philip Georgiadis in London