By Abhinav Ramnarayan and Thyagaraju Adinarayan
LONDON (Reuters) – Wise’s Class A shares were indicated to open at 750 pence in an auction, which would give it a market capitalisation of well over 7 billion pounds ($9.66 billion), according to Refinitiv prices on Wednesday.
An auction process has begun to determine fintech Wise’s share price ahead of its official London trading debut later on Wednesday, and the indicated mid-price was 750 pence at 0745 GMT. The bid-ask spread was wide at 500 pence to 1000 pence.
Wise shares are officially slated to start trading at 10:00 GMT.
The cross-border payments company, one of Britain’s most well-known fintech unicorns, last month launched the first ever direct listing on the London Stock Exchange, which allows for a stock market listing without a public offering of shares.
Several tech companies such as Deliveroo, Trustpilot and Moonpig have already listed in London this year and helped push initial public offerings (IPO) to a record high.
In addition to this, the Wise deal is seen as a crucial test for Britain’s future as a fintech hub in the wake of Brexit.
($1 = 0.7248 pounds)
(Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Kirstin Ridley)
