The boss of AstraZeneca, the biggest company on the London Stock Exchange, has discussed shifting the pharmaceutical firm’s stock market listing to the US.
Such a move would be the biggest hit to the stock market yet, following some huge departures such as £10bn financials firm Wise and £40bn mining business Glencore, among others.
The pharmaceutical firm however is far bigger by market capitalisation, currently worth just over £161bn – more than BP, National Grid and Lloyds Bank combined.
Pascal Soriot is the chief executive who has held private conversations over moving the listing, first reported the Times, citing frustrations with restrictions around new medicines and pricing structures.
The Independent understands the company acknowledges the CEO’s concerns as being longstanding, especially regarding new products, while conversations are ongoing with the UK government over support for the wider pharmaceutical industry, particularly when it comes to supporting the commercial environment to become a global superpower in the sector.
While the stock market listing would naturally be a huge blow for the UK markets, Mr Soriot could seek to re-domicile the company in the US too. That would bring political pressure too amid a potential huge blow for the government as they both chase economic growth and also get ready to back life sciences as one of the pillars mentioned in the recent industrial strategy.
Earlier this year, AstraZeneca ditched plans for a £450m vaccine hub near Liverpool, with “timing” cited as a reason at the time, while a £12m funding gap was also apparent. While the Conservatives had initially agreed the deal including a £90m pledge, Labour found no record of it after taking power and eventually only committed to £78m.
“Reports that AstraZeneca wants to move its stock listing to the US looks to be driven by business needs rather than chasing a higher valuation,” commented Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
“America is important to its growth strategy and it could become an even bigger cog in the wheel.
“The CEO seems frustrated at the lack of financial support to open new laboratories and manufacturing facilities in Europe and might see a full US stock listing as a stepping stone to receiving better treatment Stateside.
“It won’t be an easy move to pull off as unlike many other UK market ‘defectors’ with a dominant US shareholder base like CRH and Flutter, AstraZeneca has a more geographically diverse pool of investors.”
Meanwhile, one key focus of President Trump’s tariff plans have been to encourage – or demand – more pharmaceutical companies ply their trade in the US.
The EU are trying to arrange in a trade deal for pharmaceuticals to be one of the industries which get a lower than 10 per cent base tariff for exports.
A total of 40.4 per cent of AstraZeneca’s total $54bn (£39bn) revenue for 2024 came from the US alone: $21.8bn (£159bn), compared to $11.7bn from Europe and $12.6bn from Asia, Africa and Australasia combined.
AstraZeneca does already have American depositary receipts trading in the US, which allows investors to locally trade in their shares. At the close of Monday’s market, their share price on the LSE had risen more than 2 per cent to above £104, before falling back 0.5 per cent lower in Tuesday morning trading.
When contacted, the company did not directly comment on any listing speculation. Board approval would be required to move the shares overseas.
Mr Soriot earned £16.85m in 2023 as the highest-paid CEO among any FTSE 100 firm.
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