Trustpilot Seeks $1.4 Billion Valuation With Listing in London

(Bloomberg) -- Trustpilot Group Plc, a Denmark-based online platform for consumer reviews, is seeking an enterprise value of as much as $1.4 billion in the first initial public offering of a company from the European Union in London since Brexit.

Funds including BlackRock, FIL Investments International, Caledonia, Capital Research, Adelphi Capital and Janus Henderson have each entered into cornerstone agreements with the company and certain shareholders to collectively take up $240 million of the offering at the IPO price, the company said Monday.

Trustpilot is seeking to raise $50 million in the IPO, with shareholders selling an unspecified amount of existing shares. The company is expected to list with a free float of at least 25%. Shares representing as much as 15% of the offer will be made available in an over-allotment option, the company said.

The U.K. formally left the EU at the end of 2020 without an agreement covering financial services regulation, causing equity trading to shift to exchanges on the continent, and raising questions about the attractiveness of London’s IPO market for foreign issuers.

Trustpilot’s listing, the first from an EU issuer since Brexit was completed, is helping bolster confidence in London’s standing as a financial center. The deal follows the debut of Fix Price Group Ltd., Russia’s biggest dollar-store retailer, which started trading in the City Friday after raising $1.7 billion in an IPO.

And with scores of domestic companies also lining up listings, the U.K. IPO market is on track for a record first quarter in terms of proceeds. The likes of bootmaker Dr. Martens Plc and online greeting-card and gifting platform Moonpig Group Plc have made successful debuts in recent weeks, while food-delivery startup Deliveroo also announced plans for an IPO on Monday.

Trustpilot and Deliveroo are among several companies tapping the IPO market to cash in on a shift to online services that has been accelerated by coronavirus-induced lockdowns. Poland’s InPost SA, which operates automated parcel lockers for deliveries, listed in Amsterdam late January.

Trustpilot had hosted 120 million reviews by the end of 2020. It makes money by selling subscriptions to businesses, which can use consumer reviews in their marketing materials and directly engage with customers on the platform.

Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are joint sponsors and global coordinators. Berenberg and Danske Bank A/S are joint bookrunners.

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