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By Pamela Barbaglia, Abhinav Ramnarayan and Anna Irrera
LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) - Wise, the British financial
technology firm previously known as TransferWise, said on
Thursday it plans to go public with the first direct listing on
London's main market.
The London-based payments app founded in 2010 by two
Estonian entrepreneurs, said it is opting to list without
raising any funds, in a boost to the British government's
aspirations to attract more technology firms.
Apart from the London Stock Exchange itself, no
company has ever listed directly on London's main market,
although the method has been used by Spotify, Coinbase and Slack
to go public in New York.
Stock market listings in Europe have had a volatile few
months, with at least four initial public offerings (IPO)
cancelled in recent weeks as investors have become more
selective after a record first-half for floats.
Deliveroo and Alphawave both tanked on their London market
debuts, and are still trading well below their listing prices.
"Wise is used to challenging convention, and this listing is
no exception. A direct listing allows us a cheaper and more
transparent way to broaden Wise's ownership, aligned with our
mission," its co-founder and CEO Kristo Käärmann said.
The company declined to comment on its possible valuation
after sources told Reuters in April it could be worth between $6
billion and $7 billion, making it potentially one of the biggest
floats this year.
The listing is expected to be finalised on July 5, with Wise
aiming for a freefloat of at least 25%, a bookrunner said.
Wise said that it has been profitable since 2017, with a 54%
annual revenue growth rate over the last three years, reaching
421 million pounds ($589 million) in overall sales in 2021.
It added in a statement that it had moved 54.4 billion
pounds across borders for 6 million customers worldwide in 2021
so far and processes 5 billion pounds in cross-border
transactions every month.
TransferWise became popular by offering a more user-friendly
and less costly alternative for international transfers and over
the past few years has been expanding the services it offers to
include multi-currency accounts.
It has also received regulatory approval to offer investment
services in the UK.
DUAL-CLASS
Wise was founded by Käärmann, a former consultant at PwC and
Deloitte, and Taavet Hinrikus, who was previously director of
strategy at Skype.
They have opted for a dual class share structure which will
allow them to retain voting control while bringing customers and
"other like-minded investors" into its shareholder base.
"We are here for a long term mission. For the transition
period of five years we are setting up this structure so we can
focus on this mission," Käärmann said.
This structure may reignite a debate among investors in
Britain earlier this year over Deliveroo's listing. Unlike
Deliveroo, however, Wise will offer all of its existing
shareholders -- which includes high-profile business people such
as Richard Branson and Peter Thiel -- enhanced voting rights.
All who take this up will have 10 votes for every share; in
the case of Deliveroo, founder Will Shu had 20 votes for
each share held, a major point of contention for investors.
Dual-class share structures are a common feature of listed
technology companies in the United States but are frowned on by
some British investors as they can give executives outsized
influence on shareholder votes relative to their stake sizes.
At present, London-listed companies cannot have a dual-class
structure and gain access to the lucrative FTSE indices at the
same time, though that is set to change if recommendations from
a recent listings review are put in place.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays
are lead financial advisers on the deal, with Citigroup
acting as co-adviser.
($1 = 0.7151 pounds)
(Reporting by Pamela Barbaglia and Abhinav Ramnarayan;
Additional reporting by Anna Irrera
Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Alexander Smith)
