PE-backed UK companies shirk IPOs while delistings mount

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The UK government's ongoing conflict to pull companies to London's banal speech has yielded fewer results among backstage equity, arsenic British companies eschew the nationalist markets successful favour of alternate exit routes.

According to PitchBook's 2026 UK Private Capital Breakdown, lone 8 UK-headquartered companies with PE backing person gone nationalist implicit the past 5 years. Of those, 2 were priced this twelvemonth — alloy components shaper DPC Holdings and geophysical services institution Metatek — but neither took spot successful London.

UK companies are progressively choosing to database overseas alternatively than database domestically, with the stock of UK businesses listing astatine location falling from 71% successful 2019 to 46% successful 2025.

The UK isn't conscionable struggling to pull IPOs. There person been much delistings from the LSE than caller listings since 2022, and, increasingly, those companies are falling into the hands of PE sponsors.

In H1 this year, take-privates accounted for astir 20% of realised woody worth successful UK PE, up from astir 13% successful 2025.

The UK's weakening IPO marketplace is keeping sponsors reliant connected sponsor-to-sponsor and firm acquisitions. Secondary buyouts person emerged arsenic a cardinal inclination for the UK's PE market, accounting for six retired of the apical 10 deals successful H1, including Macquarie Asset Management's $1.5 cardinal acquisition of Energy Asset Group from investors including EDF Invest and Asterion Industrial.

The UK authorities has taken respective steps to usher IPOs toward improvement.

Last week, the Financial Conduct Authority simplified IPO rules to enactment UK listings to vie much efficaciously with planetary markets by removing the seven-day waiting play for connected probe during an IPO and simplifying information-sharing requirements for issuers and firms.

The UK authorities announced a three-year stamp work exemption for recently listed companies successful 2025. It besides announced a caller listings task force, supported by a concierge work designed to assistance companies exploring London arsenic a listing destination.

The Treasury and Number 10 person adjacent reached retired to PE firms directly, convening meetings with the likes of Hg Capital, CVC Capital Partners and EQT to recognize wherefore they are not listing their portfolio companies successful the UK, the Financial Times reported.

This nonfiction primitively appeared connected PitchBook News