Paul Marshall Says U.K. Listing Rule Changes Don’t Go Far Enough
Paul Marshall Says U.K. Listing Rule Changes Don’t Go Far Enough
(Bloomberg) --
London’s latest attempt to lure companies to list in the city doesn’t go far enough, hedge fund titan Paul Marshall said, days after deriding the U.K.’s financial center as a “Jurassic Park” devoid of growth and innovation.
New rules aimed at enticing more technology and growth-oriented companies to list in London come into force today, with firms issuing dual-class shares now allowed to list on the top tier of the London market. The move is designed to encourage founders to take their companies public while retaining significant stakes.
The changes are welcome but “London needs to move faster and harder still, including in relation to red-tape and taxation, in order to restore its competitive position as a home for growth companies,” Marshall said in a statement to Bloomberg.
The chair of Marshall Wace, one of the world’s largest hedge fund firms with $60 billion in assets, also called for further changes, including reform of stamp duty levied on share trading and the cancelation of planned rises in corporation taxes.
“Stamp duty on share trading is an analogue tax in a digital era,” Marshall said. “Closing the discount with New York may be impossible, but it might be narrowed and certainly we can make the London Stock Exchange a competitive place to list and raise capital relative to the EU and Asia.”
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