The London Stock Exchange has seen nine fund IPOs on its markets to date in 2017, raising GBP1.4 billion. London listed funds have also raised GBP3.6 billion in further capital in the first half of the year. London continues to be an attractive market for international fund managers, particularly from the United States. Since the start of the year, US fund managers have listed funds worth over GBP3.5 billion in London.
Most notable is the increasingly diversified nature of the funds, from microcap, supporting SMEs, and real estate specific funds for social housing, private rented sector and student property, to life sciences debt funds, demonstrating London Stock Exchange’s role in funding all sectors of the economy. A landmark for the UK fund market in 2017, Pershing Square Holdings, a close-ended investment company, successfully listed its GBP2.9 billion fund, transferring its existing trading line from Amsterdam.
Darko Hajdukovic (pictured), Head of Analytics, Fixed Income and Funds, Primary Markets London Stock Exchange Group, says: “This year’s surge in fund listings demonstrates London’s ability to finance a variety of issuers from around the world, using diverse and often innovative strategies. Particularly encouraging is the success of US-based fund managers accessing London’s deep pool of international capital, with over GBP3.5 billion listed in London by US fund managers to date in 2017.
“A number of this year’s funds have raised capital to invest in new asset classes, demonstrating our role in funding all sectors of the real economy. BioPharma Credit raised over GBP600 million, becoming the first London listed fund to specialise in debt financing for the life sciences industry.”
