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The Copenhagen-based Reviews platform Trustpilot announced that it is considering an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in London that would see at least 25% of the company floated on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). According to Bloomberg, Trustpilot is seeking a valuation of around 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) in the IPO. It would be the first large post-Brexit IPO from an EU company in London, showing that the city is still attractive to foreign listings after Brexit. Trustpilot is a key company in the dawning European cybereconomy.
In a registration document, Trustpilot said they intend to raise some $50 million in the IPO. Additionally, existing shares are to be sold by certain existing shareholders, directors, and employees. The company is targeting a premium listing on the London bourse expects that it would be eligible for inclusion in FTSE UK indices as a result.
According to CNBC, the Trustpilot IPO would be the third major London listing in 2021 so far after the classic boot brand Dr Martens and online card retailed Moonpig completing IPOs earlier in the year. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are global coordinators on the deal and bookrunners along with Berenberg and Danske Bank.
Our take
Trustpilot has become the leading reviews platform, especially in Europe, and has established an excellent market position. Unfortunately, Trustpilot is more and more abused by cybercrime organizations and their scams to give good ratings and apparent respectability to their fraudulent businesses. Many boiler rooms (call centers) behind scams focus on achieving good ratings for their scams by writing reviews themselves or inducing their customer-victims to write good reviews with various promises. Trustpilot, however, has certainly come to stay in the dawning cybereconomy, and the business model seems viable.
Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, Financial Times
