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Comment by samwillis | Hacker News Reader

Hopefully it will end back on the LSE, there was much lamenting here in the UK when SoftBank acquired them. They are one of the UKs biggest tech success, one of our few “unicorns”. For them to be be back on the LSE it would be a good signal of strength in UK tech.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some lobbying going on behind the scenes from the UK government to try and ensure it happens. Some strategic tax brakes or regional investment.

With the governments (somewhat controversial) investment in OneWeb last year they have shown they have a uk tech strategy. Although I think that was Dominic Cummings doing and he’s well out of the picture.

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> one of our few “unicorns”

“There are currently 37 private $1b+ businesses headquartered in the UK—a further 14 have exited, whilst 2 are no longer active

13 UK companies became unicorns in H1 2021—the largest concentration of new unicorns to date”

from: https://www.beauhurst.com/research/unicorn-companies/

True and really it’s not a Unicorn as it’s been public before.

You inspired me to have a look at how many “Unicorns” are in the US for comparison. Depending on source it’s between about 400-480 in the US. So about 12x as many with about 4.8x the population.

Or about 12x as many with 11x GDP.

A lot of these seem to be consumer retail, e-commerce or housing related which says a lot about the UK economic landscape. Hardly the kind of company ARM would want to be swimming amongst.

The UK gov is keen for Revolut (another SoftBank investment) to IPO in London as well, but it looks like they're trying to court Americans so they can make a bigger splash there.

Absolutely no chance Revolut lists in London. They're super globally-focused and the founder wouldn't take the loss.

Starling bank on the other hand, is a great prospect. It's still founder-controlled, UK-focused, and would be able to join the FTSE 250/100 quite easily where the S&P is beyond its reach.

Why would LSE listing be a loss? Would capital that moves in the US markets have any problem coming to the UK one if they see a good prospect?

This is a bit of a take on the current dynamics - https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/01/29/britains-newly-...

Does it matter where it IPOs?

It's a Brexit anxiety thing. If a big boy like ARM goes public in London the PM can wave the flag on TV and say we're world class.

Yep, but it's no guarantee ARM will list on the LSE considering recent UK EV maker Arrival crossed the pond for a decent IPO.

It is important with or without brexit.

The most important thing is where are the jobs. Where it lists is of minor concern, except for people desperate for "Brexit wins".

Companies like to IPO where there’s high volume, and LSE doesn’t have much compared to US exchanges. Sadly it’s a chicken + egg problem because LSE is left with older, more legacy UK companies, making it less attractive for modern tech companies to list in.

The LSE could really do with this as a boost and to break the cycle. But this will IPO in the US.

Not only liquidity but valuation for tech companies are typically better in the US for some reason.

For governments, exchanges, indices, certain investors, and economies yes.

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