A prominent London investor claims the city’s stock market is at risk of becoming a ‘Jurassic Park’
(Picture: Christie Goodwin/Royal Albert Hall)Is London really becoming a bone yard?
News that BenevolentAI is heading to Amsterdam makes it hard not to think of money manager Paul Marshall’s recent warning that London is at risk of becoming a “Jurassic Park” — a graveyard for legacy businesses that pay out steady, but decreasing, dividends to make pensioners happy. (Let’s ignore Marshall’s strange reading of the Spielberg classic for now.)
BenevolentAI is the latest UK tech success story to go public overseas. Other high-profile recent examples include Cazoo, Arrival and Babylon Health.
Notably, all of the above have gone public via SPACs: the cash shells pioneered in the US and adopted quickly by Amsterdam. London is playing catch-up.
Rules are being reformed but this won’t provide a silver bullet. The point Marshall makes is that investors, as much as the market, are the issue. Tech bosses have complained for years of the frosty reception they get from risk-averse money managers in London who simply don’t understand how the internet can upend old business models and create new ones.
Not everyone agrees with Marshall. Some think he overstates the importance of income funds. And several big tech businesses have in fact chosen to list in London: Wise and Darktrace spring to mind.
Even still, making the case that London is keeping pace with New York is hard to do. The Dow Jones is up 75% over the past five years, while the FTSE has been more or less flat. It’s clear which market prioritises growth.
