Brexit hits IPOs

The number of stockmarket flotations has taken a nosedive since Britain voted to leave the EU.

"Brexit is taking a bite" out of British initial public offerings, say Elaine He and Chris Hughes on Bloomberg Gadfly. "Rubbish collector Biffa and software group Misys are the latest victims." This week, Biffa, which aimed to raise £250m-£300m by floating on the London Stock Exchange, slashed its offer price to 180p per share, from an initial range of 220p to 270p a share.

Misys was aiming for an IPO that would value the company at £4.5bn, making it the UK's biggest tech company flotation. Now it is expected to cut that by £1bn, and has asked the UK Listing Authority for permission to float just 20% of the company rather than the usual 25%.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.