Trustpilot surges in London stock market debut

Shares of the Danish firm jumped 16% from the offer price of £2.65, giving the company a valuation of £1.1 billion

Online reviews site Trustpilot soared in its stock market debut Tuesday, becoming the latest tech firm to list in London in what is shaping up to be a busy year for the city.

Shares of the Danish firm jumped 16% from the offer price of £2.65 ($3.65) Tuesday, which gave the company a valuation of £1.1 billion. The IPO raised about £473 million in total, with existing investors selling 161 million shares and the company itself issuing 17.6 million shares.

Trustpilot’s listing comes a day after Deliveroo set a price range for its own anticipated float, which would give the British food delivery unicorn a valuation of £8.8 billion at the upper range. The Amazon-backed company’s first day of trading is expected to take place on Apr. 7, according to its IPO prospectus.

It’s likely to be Britain’s biggest IPO since Glencore went public nearly a decade ago, according to Reuters. Moonpig, the online card retailer, went public at a £1.2 billion valuation last month.

Meanwhile, London-based online pensions platform PensionBee on Monday announced plans to list in the U.K. capital. Money transfer app TransferWise and cybersecurity firm Darktrace are also expected to go public in London later this year.

The flurry of tech listings will provide a much-needed boost to London’s financial markets, amid fears that the city could lose ground to other European financial hubs like Amsterdam post-Brexit.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing an overhaul of London’s listing rules. A review commissioned by the U.K. Treasury urged London to allow firms to list dual-class shares on the premium segment of the stock market.

It appeared to be enough to give Deliveroo the confidence to list in the U.K., as the company announced its London IPO plans a day after the report’s recommendations were published. Deliveroo opted for a dual-class share structure which will gives its CEO, Will Shu, extra voting rights for three years.

Everyone was talking about Amsterdam until this listing change that was put forward, Sten Saar, CEO of digital insurance provider Zego, told CNBC. Everyone put the brakes on Amsterdam to look at the London opportunity.

Several founders of companies who are potentially thinking of listing in Europe are now reconsidering those things for London, Saar, a former Deliveroo executive, added.