Bankers anticipate UK recovery in 2025
Zurich, Frankfurt lead strong start to 2024 in mainland Europe
Relative valuation gap undermines London

LONDON, April 23 Reuters Banks have mostly given up hope this year will bring a longawaited recovery in UK IPOs, as stock exchanges within the European Union and Switzerland have so far proved more tempting, senior bankers told Reuters.

London, which was Europe39;s most popular listing venue in the boom of 2021, has attracted only 2 of all European IPO volumes since January, with Zurich and Frankfurt the busiest venues, Dealogic data showed.

Part of the reason is the sluggishness of Britain39;s economic recovery and a perception its stock market is undervalued.

Bankers anticipate London will recover in 2025, when more private equityowned companies mature into IPO candidates and stock prices are expected to rise.

So far this year, UK IPOs have raised some 130 million, largely driven by Air Astana39;s dual listing. That is a slight increase from this time last year but an 81 drop from the same period in 2022, Dealogic39;s figures show.

We39;re likely to have a thin IPO market in the UK in 2024, Tom Swerling, global head of equity capital markets ECM at Barclays, told Reuters, adding that he saw a reasonably healthy pipeline of UK IPOs next year.

Tom Snowball, who oversees UK equity capital markets at BNP Paribas, also predicted limited London activity this year.

What there was would likely on the smaller end of the…