(Adds detail from conference)
By David Milliken
LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi
Sunak said on Tuesday he wanted to make it more attractive for
companies to list in Britain, at a time when private equity
firms have sought to take some well-known names private.
Sunak, speaking at a tech conference in London, said
interest in British businesses from overseas investors,
including private equity companies, reflected well on their view
of the wider economy, but regulators did need to check whether
some takeovers were in Britain's longer-term interest.
Britain has historically taken a relaxed view of foreign
takeovers but the purchase of chip design company ARM in 2016 by
Japan's SoftBank raised concerns, and regulators are
currently questioning its sale to U.S. company Nvidia Corp
.
Asked if he would prefer to see ARM listed as an independent
company in Britain, Sunak said he could not comment specifically
due to the ongoing regulatory process.
"Whether it is ARM or anyone else, I want to make (Britain)
an incredibly attractive place for companies to raise capital,"
Sunak told reporters.
Britain has already taken steps to allow structures such as
special purpose acquisition companies and dual-class listings,
which had caused some firms to prefer to list in the United
States. Sunak also said he was seeking to make it simpler for
companies to produce prospectuses for initial public offerings.
"Next year when we legislate we are going to look at things
around prospectuses ... how we simplify the process of companies
issuing IPO prospectuses and what they can put in there without
specific legal liabilities," he said.
But Sunak said that in general, Britons should welcome
foreign investors' appetite to buy British businesses and that
private equity did not represent a danger.
"If international investors, whoever they are, are keen to
invest their capital in the UK, that is something that is good
news for our economy. And that's what you're seeing," he said.
British supermarket Morrisons is currently at the
centre of a takeover battle between two U.S. private equity
firms, creating fears of job losses.
Separately, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority has
said that in future it wants to take a closer look at foreign
tech giants' purchases of much smaller firms in case they looked
like an attempt to snuff out competition.
Sunak said this approach was reasonable and should not close
the door on exit opportunities for early investors.
"I don't think people need to be that anxious about it," he
said. "No one should come away from that thinking we are against
that activity."
(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Costas Pitas and Jane
Merriman)
