A new wave of IPOs could revive our shareholding democracy

Many high-quality firms are coming to the market this year, says Matthew Lynn. The City should seize the opportunity to create a new generation of active shareholders.

This is shaping up to be the City's most lucrative year for new share flotations for the best part of a decade. Companies ranging from the online electricals retailer AO, to Pets At Home, Poundland, and the games designer King are all likely to list their shares in London over the next few months.

Traditionally, the banks managing those initial public offerings (IPOs) would have concentrated their energy on the big institutional shareholders, both in this country and increasingly in wealthy financial centres such as Dubai. But this time around that would be a mistake.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.