Deliveroo the British food delivery app, which began its initial operations in London, is planning to debut in London and will offer shares between £3.90 and £4.60 and is aiming for a final market cap in the range £7.6 to £8.8 billion.
This will be one of the biggest listings in the U.K. and the first major one after Brexit. The company announced its plans in early March.
The government is looking to bring in reforms and a recent review that was backed by the government was looking to make improvements in London’s listings. One of the major reforms debated was the introduction of dual-class stocks.
Google and Facebook have been among the pioneers of dual-class stocks which give founders, executives and families increased voting rights and more control over their companies, even though they are public.
Companies in London are not able to list dual-class shares on the London stock exchange’s premium segment. This does not make them eligible to be included in benchmarks such as the Financial Times Stock Exchange Index – FTSE 100.
Deliveroo is also going for a dual-class share option to give its CEO and founder Will Shu increased voting rights. Investors will be permitted to get one vote per share while the founder will get 20.
Deliveroo announced a trading update on Monday said that its total transaction value has increased more than two-fold in the first two months of 2021, as a result of the lockdown. In the U.K. and Ireland volumes increased by 130% year-on-year and other markets increased by 112%.
Deliveroo delivers both food and groceries and will be expanding its network of dark kitchens around the world. In 2020, the company was performing badly until the Amazon backed company bounced back during the pandemic. Food delivery zoomed during the many lockdowns and the company is one of those who thrived amidst the overall gloom.