London Stock Exchange enjoys rebound in IPO activity

The London Stock Exchange ended 2025 with 11 IPOs that raised £1.9 billion, marking its strongest year since 2021. According to research from PwC, this came against a wider decline in the European deals market, both in terms of value and volume.

Vhernie Manickavasagar, UK IPO leader at PwC, commented, “London has delivered its strongest year for IPO and listing activity since 2021. These developments underscore the resurgence of London’s capital markets and its returning appeal as a leading listing destination… Looking ahead, momentum is set to continue into 2026, with a robust pipeline of large-cap IPOs expected across the Consumer, Financial Services and TMT sectors.” 

The London Stock Exchange saw £1.9 billion raised from 11 IPOs in 2025. In particular, this was boosted by a flurry of activity in the year’s last three months, with fintech company Shawbrook and consumer company Princes Group pricing their IPOs at the end of October for £348 million and £400 million respectively.

Other equity market activity saw the demergers of global mining company Valterra Platinum and Magnum Ice Cream Company, new listings of Metlen Energy & Metals and AIM to Main Market move-ups, rights issues and Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) transactions contributing to the rebound in London’s equity markets. 

In addition, Manickavasagar noted that “global multi-billion-pound companies selected the London Stock Exchange for their international listings in 2025, the largest of which had a market capitalisation of £16 billion in December 2025”. This may have been helped by the three-year stamp duty holiday on shares in new UK IPOs announced in the Chancellor’s autumn budget, which was widely seen as a positive amid the investment community, and seems to have boosted the London IPO market. 

As a result, London’s stock market outperformed the broader UK market, which endured a disappointing 12 months. Overall, the country saw a total of €12.5 billion raised from 60 listings. That was slightly lower than the €15 billion raised from 64 listings in 2024 – but the picture is still less gloomy than it was earlier in the year.

EMEA recovery

Looking at the broader EMEA region, proceeds raised also fell in 2025; reaching $22.6 billion from 130 IPOs, compared to $31.7 billion raised from 152 IPOs in 2024. Europe saw a difficult first six months of the year, total proceeds reaching €4.0 billion driven by 16 IPOs in Q1 raising €3.1 billion – considerably down from the same period last year, which saw €11.5 billion raised. However in the overall EMEA region, the proceeds raised in the fourth quarter, along with a strong pipeline of listings, signal a coming revival of the IPO market, according to PwC. Along with London, activity in Stockholm and Saudi Arabia – driven by the healthcare and financial sectors – were strong going into 2026.

Kat Kravstov, capital markets director at PwC UK, said, “Looking ahead, 2026 is shaping up to be another strong year for IPOs globally and in EMEA, driven by strong investor appetite for quality IPO stories, a backlog of issuers, including large unicorns, and overall constructive equity market sentiment, subject to continued stability. We also saw IPO activity by private equity sponsors strengthen in 2025 and we expect a stronger PE-backed issuance next year." 

Global IPO market 

Global IPO proceeds meanwhile totalled $143.3 billion from 1,014 IPOs, a 21% increase compared to 2024 which saw $118.1 billion proceeds raised from 984 IPOs. The rebound in activity, which was particularly strong in the second half of the year, was driven by robust IPO activity in the Americas ($59.8 billion) and Asia-Pacific region ($61.6 billion), up 61% and 24% respectively. 

The top 10 IPOs of 2025 consisted of six from the Asia-Pacific region, three from the US and one from Europe. Again, financials accounted for 29% of global proceeds, with four IPOs raising over a $1 billion. Information Technology followed with proceeds of $19.6 billion, while consumer discretionary and Industrials raised $18.8 billion and $18.1 billion. 

Stuart Newman, global IPO centre leader at PwC UK, concluded, “Despite disruption, 2025 has been a strong year for IPOs, up 21% from the prior year. The US, China/Hong Kong and India have driven 2025 activity; there is confidence and an active pipeline going into 2026 in all regions, if still selective.”