5th Feb 2026 11:50
(Alliance News) - This week's bonfire of software shares may cause a delay to the biggest initial public offering in London in years, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Visma Software International AS, a software company valued at EUR19 billion, had been considering listing in London as soon as the first half of this year, but this may now be pushed back into the second half of the year, the newspaper said, citing "people familiar with the matter".
The earliest a listing of Visma could take place is in the second quarter, the people added, according to the FT. However, preparations continue to proceed for a listing when the time is right, one person said.
Visma is an Oslo-based provider of cloud-based software, such as for accounting and payroll, to small to medium businesses and the public sector. It is 70% owned by UK private equity investor Hg.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index is down 3.3% since last Thursday's close.
The sharp falls in software, data analytics and advertising stocks came after US artificial intelligence firm Anthropic released new 'agentic AI' tools for corporate legal teams, including a legal plug-in for its Claude generative AI chatbot.
The US AI company said the tool can automate legal work such as reviewing contracts, triaging non-disclosure agreements, composing briefings and providing templated responses.
The roll-out renewed fears that AI will threaten existing business models, hitting sales and growth.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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