Shares in Deliveroo plunged by as much as 30 in their trading debut on Wednesday, slicing more than 2 billion pounds off the companys valuation in a blow to the food delivery group and the London market for initial public offerings IPO.
The highlyanticipated listing, the biggest in the London market in a decade, had been hailed by British finance minister Rishi Sunak as a true British tech success story that could clear the way for more IPOs by fastgrowing technology companies.
But the debut had already been overshadowed as some of Britains biggest investment companies shunned the listing, citing concerns about gigeconomy working conditions and the share structure.
The 390 pence price tag gave an overall valuation of 7.6 billion pounds 10.46 billion and was already set at the bottom of an initial range.
Within minutes of the market opening on Wednesday, it lost 2.28 billion pounds of its value, which one senior equity capital markets banker said would hurt the market for initial public offerings in Britain and Europe.
Its an extremely painful move on one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year, he said, asking to remain anonymous.
Having hit a low of 271 pence, the stock was back up to 298 pence by 1015 BST.
Shares often recover from steep falls on their market debuts as the managing banks make use of the overallotment, or greenshoe a percentage of the offer reserved to stabilise the price.
One trader said he had seen no buyers for the stock. All weve seen is…