AS Watson considers delaying its planned £1.5 billion London IPO until 2027, citing regulatory complications in Asia
AS Watson, the health and beauty retail group whose UK portfolio includes Superdrug and Savers, is reported to be considering pushing back its planned London Stock Exchange flotation from 2026 into 2027. The planned IPO (initial public offering, where a company's shares are admitted to a public market for the first time) had been expected to raise approximately £1.5 billion and value AS Watson at around £22.5 billion. The reported delay reflects regulatory and other complications in Asia, where AS Watson also operates the Watsons and Rossmann health and beauty chains across Europe and Asia. No specific regulatory jurisdiction or proceeding is identified in the source. The news is a further setback for the London Stock Exchange, which has been battling a prolonged shortage of new listings alongside a rise in foreign takeovers of UK-listed companies. A £22.5 billion valuation would have made this one of the more significant new listings on the London market in recent years, and its deferral removes a major near-term catalyst for the UK IPO pipeline. The story reinforces a pattern of large-cap issuers hesitating over London listings, with complexity in overseas operations adding to the regulatory review burden that precedes any international flotation.
Why this matters
A deferred IPO of this scale is a direct signal of the structural challenges facing the London equity capital markets (ECM) pipeline. When an issuer with significant Asian operations delays a London listing because of overseas regulatory complexity, it illustrates the due diligence and multi-jurisdictional clearance burden that capital markets lawyers must navigate long before a prospectus is filed. The London Stock Exchange's ongoing difficulty attracting large new listings is a live commercial issue for every Magic Circle and Silver Circle firm with an ECM practice, since a thinner IPO pipeline means fewer verification exercises, fewer prospectus mandates, and less ancillary work across the deal team. The delay also keeps the valuation question open: a £22.5 billion listing that slips into 2027 may face a different interest rate and investor appetite environment.
On the Ground
A trainee supporting an ECM team preparing for an IPO of this type would be assisting with prospectus drafting and proofreading, preparing verification notes to confirm the accuracy of statements in the draft prospectus, and coordinating the listing application forms required for admission to the London Stock Exchange.
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“What regulatory and legal steps would a company with significant Asian operations need to complete before it could list on the London Stock Exchange, and where might those steps create delay?”
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