Yahoo Finance Deliveroo announces £1bn London IPO
Takeaway company Deliveroo on Monday morning confirmed its intention to float, saying that it will sell £1bn ($1.4bn) in new shares in its initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange.
The company said that any additional details of the offering would be disclosed in its forthcoming prospectus.
Despite that, some details of what Deliveroo intends to roll out have already been announced.
The official announcement comes following news released by the company last week that it would make £50m of shares available to its customers in a “community offer.”
The company also said it would give up to £10,000 to its busiest riders with a £16m "thank you" fund.
The takeaway go-between issued a statement last week that showed it had narrowed its losses in 2020 to £223.7m.
That's compared with a loss of £317.3m in 2019, following a bumper year, partially due to stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Brits shop closer to home due to lockdown while half of spending is online
Food delivery companies have been among the winners throughout the pandemic, providing a source of income for many restaurants and variety for consumers.
The company has said its IPO will take advantage of the dual-class share structure, which will last for three years and could see the company valued at £8bn.
Deliveroo's move for London comes hot on the heels of UK chancellor Rishi Sunak's announcement that the UK would change rules to allow founders to maintain control of their companies despite selling shares on the stock market.
The change is a bid to convince more high-growth tech businesses and "blank cheque," also known as SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies), to list shares in London.
The push to modernise the UK's public markets comes amid concerns that the UK is falling behind other international markets, notably the US.
Watch: Deliveroo launches London IPO as business surges
