Shell weighs shifting listing from London to New York: Bloomberg
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The news: Oil major Shell is considering shifting its listing from the London Stock Exchange to New York, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The numbers: Shell is the largest company on the FTSE 100, and has a current market value of around £180 billion ($345 billion).
The context: According to Bloomberg, Wael Sawan, chief executive of Shell, said the oil and gas giant is looking at “all options” for its listing amid concerns it is under-appreciated by investors. He said: “I have a location that clearly seems to be undervalued.”
Should Shell decide in favour of shifting to New York, the move would be a monumental blow for the UK’s LSE, which has seen an exodus of existing listings as well as desired IPOs of late, such as Arm, CRH, Flutter and Tui.
While Sawan told Bloomberg that the plan is not to immediately relocate the listing but to fix issues including cost cutting, underperformance and share buybacks, if by mid-2025 the valuation gap remains in place, Sawan said that no option is off the table (including a listing shift): “If we work through the sprint, and we are doing what we are doing, and we still don’t see that the gap is closing, we have to look at all options,” he said. “All options,” he emphasised.
Any decision to move Shell’s primary listing away from London would need at least 75% approval in a shareholder vote.
The source: Bloomberg
