Brexit deals another blow to IPOs as African bank pulls out

LONDON’S battered IPO market suffered a further blow on Tuesday when another float was pulled due to uncertainty about the UK economy and Brexit. The African Export-Import Bank cited “unfavourable market conditions” for the decision to postpone a £2.5 billion flotation.

That move comes just two weeks after Afreximbank, as it is known, excited the City by saying it wanted to tap London’s capital markets as part of expansion plans. While City watchers questioned why banking advisers at JPMorgan and HSBC could advise a U-turn in such a short space of time, they acknowledge that markets have been turbulent, making floats risky. WeWork pulled a $50 billion New York float at the end of September. Saudi Aramco is reportedly readying the largest ever stock-market listing after numerous false starts. In London, ditched floats include the £4 billion IPO of Kazakhstan tech firm Kaspi, which said in October that “unfavourable and uncertain market conditions, particularly in the technology sector”, made a shares sale impossible.

Figures from EY recently showed that London’s IPO market is at its quietest for a decade. Brexit isn’t the only factor. Bankers say private equity firms are awash with cash, allowing growing businesses to access the investment they need away from the demands of the stock market. Autumn is typically a strong period for floats, but the market is likely to remain moribund. One banker said: “There is not a pipeline of IPOs and normally this is a good time of year to do them after summer and before the Christmas season. It’s a tougher environment. It’s a much quieter IPO season. Brexit is definitely a factor but it masks other things which are important. Private equity has a huge amount of money and it’s less attractive for companies to IPO.”

Other ditched UK floats include Russia’s Rustranscom, which said last April that since unveiling a float it had received offers from private investors that better suited its strategy. Afreximbank is owned by 51 African States. Sources insisted there was significant interest from investors in its shares, but noted that other floats which have gone ahead recently have performed poorly. Afreximbank said it will “continue to monitor the markets to find the appropriate window to launch its offering".