Fintech founders eye billions in float

BRiTiSH financial technology star Wise has confirmed plans for what could be the biggest stock market float in london for a decade.

The company said it was planning a direct listing on July 7 in a deal that could value it at anything between £5bn and £9bn.

a value at the upper end of that range would make it the biggest float in london since Glencore’s blockbuster £38bn stock market debut in 2011. and it is set to hand its founders a fortune.

london-based Wise was set up in 2010 by two Estonian entrepreneurs, Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus ( picture below).

Kaarmann ( left) owns 19.8pc of the company – a holding that could be worth up to £1.8bn – while Hinrikus stands to see his 11.5pc stake valued at as much as £1bn.

But unlike a normal float, the direct listing will see it sell shares without setting a price in advance, with the opening figure determined by an auction on the day.

it is being seen as a key test of investors’ appetite after a mixed record for floats in recent months.

Food delivery firm Deliveroo was dubbed ‘ Floperoo’ after its shares tanked by a third on the first day of trading, while chip designer alphawave iP also tumbled out of the gate. Others such as cybersecurity firm Darktrace and e-greetings card retailer Moonpig have fared better, while bathroom products firm Victorian Plumbing romped higher this week, but the overall picture remains patchy.

neil Wilson, chief markets analyst at Markets.com, said: ‘ Wise seems a good business, i just don’t know if in the current market investors are willing to pay up at this kind of valuation. i don’t think the london market is that able or willing to provide this kind of liquidity.’ it is also unclear whether Wise has secured guaranteed backing from institutional investors yet. ‘as we saw with Deliveroo this was the biggest problem, as there was no “buyer of last resort” that was willing to take on more as the share price fell, thus stabilising it,’ Wilson added.

Wise is using a controversial dual-class share structure that will ensure that investors who held shares before its listing – including Virgin tycoon Richard Branson and Paypal founder Peter Thiel – retain outsized voting powers.

Kaarmann said: ‘ Since announcing our expected intention to float last week, we’ve had over 60,000 expressions of interest in our customer shareholder programme.’