The largest Ipo offering by Arqiva Group has been delayed at the moment due to the uncertainty in the market.
The offering was meant to be one of the largest IPO offerings of the year, planned to raise around £1.5 Billion. Whilst the markets in Europe have seen steady growth over the past four years, the uncertainty in the market in the UK with the ongoing Brexit negotiations has been cited as the main reason to delay the offering. It was decided that the conditions were not as favorable as would be hoped. The conditions were likely to have a negative impact on the value of the initial offering.
Arqiva Group
The Arqiva group is a telecommunications company which own UK wireless towers across the UK. The board and the shareholders were in discussions in relation to the IPO. It was decided that the offering was not in the best interests of the company at the given time. The pound has recently been losing value against other world currencies as well at the moment. This is another consideration that appears to have influenced the companies decision as any devaluation of the currency would have a large impact on the value of any IPO.
Bakkavor Group
The Bakkavor group is a large company that is involved in the food manufacturing sector. The group was set to seek to raise £100 Million from the market as well.
Similar to Arqiva, the group has decided to postpone their plans for the time being and waiting for market conditions to improve. These latest delays now mean that there is a large pipeline of offerings due to be brought to the market sometime next year. It is not clear how all of these offerings will be received by the market.
Companies are eager to not wait for too long however due to the looming Brexit negations. There is likely to be a lot more unrest and uncertainty in the market due to the exit from the EU. So whilst companies are not confident in the conditions in the market in its current form, many will be eager not to wait too long either in case they get burnt by the Brexit talks.
Other companies have forged ahead with large IPOs this year and these have had mixed reviews. Companies have opted to move away from the UK market when looking for further funding and have been increasingly looking towards European countries for their offerings. The recent increase in the Interest rate should have a calming impact on the market as a whole and it will be hoped that the change will increase confidence in the market, even if only for a short time.
