AstraZeneca listing move would be ‘memorable loss’ to London market

2025-07-02 12:17:21

According to the CEO of Astrazneca Pascal Soriot, photographed in London on June 28, 2023, the company’s shares list from London to the United States.

Justin Talis AFP | Gety pictures

The pressure on the London Stock Exchange accumulates, with reports that the British drug giant Astrazeneca Its list may be transferred to the United States, which offers another blow this week.

CEO Pascal Soreriot is considering transferring the company’s shares list from London to the United States, the British newspaper The Times I mentioned on Tuesday afternoon, citing unknown sources. Soreriott’s frustrations are said to be the organizational environment in the UK – especially the rules on approvals on new medicine and drug pricing systems – lead this step.

Astrazneca refused to comment on the Times report.

The company’s exit from the UK market would provoke the re -translation of the main index, given the Astrazeneca is the most valuable business listed in FTSE 100 in London. The market value in Astrazneca reached 161.2 billion pounds (221.1 billion dollars) as of the closing price on Tuesday, according to LSEG data.

Astrazeneca’s via Atlantic step will add to concerns about the weakness of London’s position as a global financial center. A number of companies have cleared of the London market or a re -considered shares plans in the city during the past year.

Toni Meadows, the head of investment at BRI Wealth Management in London, described the rumors of the rumored Astrazneca menu as “disappointing” in the UK stock market – but he admitted that it is “not surprising” given that it will constitute the latest development in a wider direction.

Earlier this year, Reports appeared The Chinese fast fashion giant Shin was looking to include him in Hong Kong instead of London, when he was announced. Last week, Reuters News Agency I mentioned The company was planning to provide a secrecy to the public subscription in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the Metals Cobalt Holdings CNBC investor confirmed last month that it had canceled plans to subscribe to the public subscription in London, while Announced in June It was moving an elementary list from London to New York.

Kristo Carman, CEO of Wayez and co -founder, said in a statement at the time that this step will help increase the company’s awareness in the United States, while giving the company better to reach the “deepest capital market in the world”.

Historically, the London -listed companies were much less than their counterparts in Wall Street. research From the British Investment Manager, Rathbones showed last year that the price ratio to profits for UK’s shares was 32 % lower than those mentioned in the United States on a similar basis.

On the other hand, The Financial Times I mentioned Last week, the Norwegian giant Visma chose London for the first time in the public market.

“Big and important companies such as Astrazeneca are seeking to obtain an evaluation of exposure to a broader investor base and they will get this from moving to the United States list,” Miduz of CNBC told CNBC via email on Wednesday.

Meadows added: “The trend to move the listing list, or the stream of acquisitions of shares listed in the United Kingdom, highlights the value in the stock market in the United Kingdom, but it does nothing to encourage new supplies from companies that are included here to support the future position of the index in a global context.”

“The UK loses its edge”

Claire Al -Kasbah, the M&A Consulting Foundation, said that Astrazeneca, whose list has shifted to New York, will represent an “unforgettable loss” on the London Stock Exchange.

“Given the complexity of the company, this is not simply due to the advantages of liquidity or evaluation often mentioned by departure companies, instead of a triple group of weak capital markets, organizational restrictions, and wrong incentives that make it difficult to expand the scope of innovation at home,” she told CNBC.

Trackt added that the London-listed companies with a joint value of more than $ 100 billion have already moved to New York in recent years-and the departure of Astrazneca alone will be more than twice this number.

She said: “The potential step makes it painfully clear to global markets that the United Kingdom is losing it to the needs of global and widespread -stimulating companies.” “This is not an isolated story – and this is the biggest issue. It is part of a wider shift, as the founders and paintings are increasingly looking for the United States to get deeper capital, stronger support, and a more ambitious investor base.”

Tom Pacon, a London-based partner at Global Law Firm Bclp-has a section for integration and purchase and corporate financing-reports of Soriot’s desire to Astrazneca to switch from London “very worrying”.

“I think this should seem the alarm of the UK government that they need to do more to support the city and our stock market with our important industries such as life sciences and pharmaceutical preparations,” he said.

Changing the “will not be an easy step to withdraw”

Dan Coatsworth, AJ Bell investment analyst, said on Wednesday that Astrazneca plans are the amount of it seemed to be driven by work needs instead of chasing a higher assessment – but added that the transfer of the company’s list across the Atlantic Ocean will not be an easy step for clouds.

“Unlike many” fugitives “in the other UK market with a dominant shareholder base such as CRH and FLTTER, Astrazneca is a more geographical variety of investors.

However, Coatsworth noted that Astrazeneca generates about 42 % of its sales from the United States, and has already plans to increase its operational imprint in the country.

Earlier this year, CEO Soreut CNBC said Astrazneca was “very committed to the United States”, as the company has two great centers for research and development.

See the full CNBC interview with the CEO of Astrazneca on its Chinese investment of $ 2.5 billion

AJ Bell’s Coatsworth CNBC has told Astrazeneca CEO also can also see a full American stock list as “a starting point for better treatment in the United States.”

European pharmaceutical companies face uncertainty about their future in the American market, as US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a tariff for the sector on drug imports.

While the industry was exempt from Trump’s mutual plans when it was revealed in April, the White House leader has since then Place the sector under investigation By the American Trade Department, to caution Definitions on medicines “will come soon” and The executive order signed Directing medical companies to reduce the price of some medications in line with the costs paid abroad.

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