Downing Street calls in IPO candidates and investors for talks

Andy Burnham's top business advisor has called in some of Britain's most valuable private companies and a group of major investors for talks aimed at boosting London's flagging pipeline of bumper stock market listings.

Sky News has learnt that companies including Kraken, the energy software business spun out of Octopus Energy, and the fintech unicorn Zilch were among a handful of companies which held talks in Downing Street earlier this week.

Quantexa, the cybersecurity software specialist, and quantum computing group Oxford Quantum Circuits were also among the companies in attendance.

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The meeting, which was convened by Varun Chandra, one of Mr Burnham's most senior advisors, was attended by investors including BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager.

Institutions including the pension scheme USS, Janus Henderson, M&G Investments and Railpen were also present, according to one City source.

The source said the summit was designed to underline the commitment of Mr Burnham's administration to support scaling UK-based companies and connect them to UK institutional capital at a time of ongoing concern about the attractiveness of UK equity markets.

Executives from the London Stock Exchange and British Business Banks, which has backed a number of the companies in attendance, were also present at the talks.

A string of prominent companies which had hoped to list this year, such as bookseller Waterstones and the RAC breakdown recovery services have either pushed their flotations into 2027 or changed course altogether.

Many IPO candidates and their owners will be watching the chancellor, John Healey's, maiden Budget this month to assess whether any tax changes render London listings more or less attractive.

Downing Street has been approached for comment, while none of the private sector executives who were contacted by Sky News would comment on Wednesday.

(c) Sky News 2026: Downing Street calls in IPO candidates and investors for talks