London (AFP)

Far from being hampered by the pandemic, IPO projects are legion in the London market, which remains attractive despite Brexit, and intends to take advantage of more flexible rules in order to attract ever more technology companies.

Dr Martens shoes or online greeting card seller Moonpig are among the top contenders for a listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The meal delivery platform Deliveroo or the fintech Transferwise, specializing in money transfer, should follow suit.

All want to ride the boom in online commerce, popular since the start of the health crisis, and some could be valued at several billion pounds.

"We can expect 2021 to be a very good year for the UK IPO market," predicts Scott McCubbin of consulting firm EY.

"Confidence returns with the Brexit agreement which clarifies the relationship with Europe and the deployment of vaccines against Covid-19", according to him.

In addition to the companies already mentioned, the British press echoed many other projects such as Canopius, an insurance company for Lloyd's of London, Pod Point, a specialist in charging points for electric vehicles and of which EDF is a shareholder, or the Very online distributor.

"In recent years, there has been more funding for start-ups" and therefore "more companies ready to go public," Marcus Stuttard, head of the UK primary market at the London Stock Exchange, told AFP. .

At the same time, investors have a lot of money to invest, in particular thanks to the economic support of central banks.

- Compete with New York and Hong Kong -

London would now like to take advantage of Brexit to defend its global influence.

In 2020, it was just behind China and the United States in terms of funds raised on the stock market, according to EY.

And the British capital has captured more than 40% of the amounts in Europe.

It is also home to many "unicorns", young companies valued more than a billion dollars which are not yet listed.

The technological sector is highly represented in market entry projects, driven by the health context and teleworking, which always require more online services.

One of the biggest deals in London in 2020 was signed by online retailer The Hut Group, a specialist in cosmetics and nutritional products, whose price jumped, which may have inspired other companies.

London especially intends to take advantage of Brexit to set its own rules.

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has given a mission to former European Commissioner Jonathan Hill, who is due to deliver his conclusions in early 2021, to relax certain stock market rules in order to attract more companies.

For example, a company must invest at least 25% of its capital when going public.

But this threshold could be lowered to allow young companies to enter smoothly and its founders to retain more control.

The City of London, in a study published on Friday, believes it has room for improvement in convincing foreign companies to list on its market, regretting the delay in the United States and Hong Kong.

For London, the objective would also be to respond to competition from European neighbors, even though the Polish e-commerce company Inpost has just chosen Amsterdam for its IPO, citing access to the vast European market without headache. regulatory.

All the more so as Brussels takes a dim view of the reforms of the rules of the London markets and fears a "dumping" of standards on the part of the British authorities to better compete with the European markets.

The Commission is slowing down before granting equivalences which give British companies access to the European market.

"Amsterdam, Lisbon and Dublin are becoming competitive and France is seeking to facilitate entry into the territory (such as visas) to attract new talents", underlines Charlotte Crosswell, general manager of the association of "fintechs" Innovate Finance, in a letter sent earlier this year to Jonathan Hill.

"In the context of Brexit, we must recognize that interest is growing in quotes on EU markets," she warns.

© 2021 AFP