00:00I'm wondering, when you're looking at rivals internationally, are you looking at the US as the top rival because of the deeper pools of capital, the higher valuations, or are you more concentrated on Europe? Are you looking at Stockholm, Amsterdam, Paris?
00:14So I'm looking at a different set of numbers than those. I think that's the first point. So we talk about IPOs and I get it. Our biggest competition is with the US, by any measure.
00:25We're two and a half times larger than the next European exchange in total capital raise this year.
00:30There have been 19 companies that have come to London this year that have increased the market cap by 45 billion.
00:37Now that's not in that reporting. I understand why not, because it looked at IPO numbers.
00:41But one of our biggest was the movement of a Greek company, Methlen, from the Athens Exchange, where they reincorporated in the UK, relisted their securities in London, and then came straight into the FTSE 100.
00:52They didn't need new cash. So they didn't have an IPO, and therefore they didn't count in those stats.
00:59And therefore what we focus on is the total amount of capital raised. And I'll give you a couple of other stats which are, again, not widely understood.
01:07AIM had its largest ever capital raising this year. Rosebank raised over a billion pounds to buy a US company from under the nose of private equity.
01:16So there is actually a lot of strength. Now, we actually, tonight, there is a US company that is doing the first ever dual listing in NASDAQ in London simultaneously.
01:27They are closing the market in NASDAQ and flying over here to open the market tomorrow morning, and that's a $13.8 billion company.
01:33And we've got another British company IPO-ing on Friday.
01:36So the simple reality is that actually there's a lot of activity happening.
01:40We look at our total size of capital raised year on year versus other jurisdictions, and the only place where we really have to compete now is the US.
01:48You've talked about remarkable fintechs, including your own, and overseas interest.
01:54We had the Euronext boss on Bloomberg TV saying that he might be interested in buying the LSE.
02:00It's easy to say it on Bloomberg TV. Have you actually had a knock on your door with an offer?
02:05It's not for sale.
02:09I'll be very clear with you. It matters to me that I run the only primary exchange in the London Stock Exchange group.
02:17That means I'm not in the slightest bit conflicted to be the biggest possible advocate for the health of the UK equity capital markets.
02:24And I operate in a group that has a market cap bigger than Euronext does.
02:27And I've seen what's happened to other exchanges in the group because it's quite difficult to prioritize one when you own several.
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