14th Jun 2023 16:30
(Alliance News) - Kew Soda Ltd, better known as WE Soda, on Wednesday cancelled plans to float on the London Stock Exchange, with the soda ash producer explaining that UK investors are cautious about the initial public offering market.
Chief Executive Alasdair Warren said: "Since our intention to float announcement some weeks ago, we had been encouraged by the breadth of investor engagement globally and the subsequent interest from prospective investors in our IPO."
"Despite this, the reality is that investors, particularly in the UK, remain extremely cautious about the IPO market and this extreme investor caution in London meant that we were unable to arrive at a valuation that we believe reflects our unique financial and operating characteristics."
WE Soda is the world's largest natural soda ash producer. Based in London with production facilities in Turkey, the company manufactured 5.0 million metric tonnes of product last year, including 4.6 million metric tonnes of the alkali salt ingredient.
Soda is ash an ingredient used for glass manufacturing, but also in solar photovoltaic glass, the production of lithium carbonate used in electric vehicle batteries, and silicates and other sodium chemicals.
The IPO was expected to value WE Soda between USD7.5 billion to USD8 billion and would have been the biggest in London this year.
The company had announced it was mulling a London IPO in May. Last week Wednesday, it then confirmed its intention to list.
The move is a blow for the London Stock Exchange, which has struggled to attract sizeable new listings, and seen companies such as the building materials firm, CRH PLC, move their listings to the US. Softbank Group Corp also chose to list UK chip designer, ARM Holdings across the pond.
Warren said the group's strategic priorities remain the same, a focus on sustainability and safety and delivering on growth projects in Turkey and the US."
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
CRH