London Stock Exchange enters talks to buy stake in Primarybid
London technology startup Primarybid is in talks to sell a chunk of its business to Britain’s stock exchange, following a successful partnership between the pair.
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the parent firm behind the London Stock Exchange, has entered detailed discussions with Primarybid about an investment, Sky News reported.
Primarybid is an everyday investing platform for discounted share issuances, which holds a long-standing commercial relationship with LSEG. It raised $8.6m last year, with backers including Pentech, Outward VC and Hambro Perks.
It managed the retail side of a £2bn share placing for Compass Group earlier this year, and has also been involved in deals with Taylor Wimpey, SSP and Ocado.
Though other suitors are said to be in the mix, LSEG’s talks are at an advanced stage and a deal could be announced within weeks.
The move will be viewed as part of LSEG’s bid to digitally transform the London Stock Exchange’s underlying infrastructure.
At the time of LSEG and Primarybid’s partnership being announced in November last year, the exchange’s head of equity primary markets Charlie Walker said the tie-up was part of an “ongoing commitment to broaden the services available to retail investors”.
LSEG said earlier this year its $27bn deal to acquire data provider Refinitiv will still close in 2020, despite scrutiny from regulators.
The group is also currently consulting on a change to its trading hours, reducing the time it is open from 8am to 4:30pm down to 9am to 4pm.
LSEG declined to comment.
Anand Sambasivan, Primarybid’s chief executive, said in a statement: “The last three months have been transformative for Primarybid and we are excited by the tremendous new interest in our capital markets technology.
“Our partnership with the London Stock Exchange is built on respect and admiration for its incredible history, and for our shared desire to empower retail investors.”