Key facts
- London Stock Exchange CEO Dame Julia Hoggett urges pension funds to disclose UK equity holdings.
- Hoggett believes clearer reporting would encourage domestic investment.
- Top shareholders are increasingly rejecting low-ball takeover bids for London-listed companies.
- Shareholders are pushing for higher valuations in takeover scenarios.
- The trend of shareholder pushback is influencing deal outcomes.
- Despite company departures, Hoggett remains optimistic about the LSE's future.
- Hoggett highlights the UK's strengths in company creation and institutional capital.
- Hoggett attributes negative sentiment to self-inflicted 'bad vibes'.
Dame Julia Hoggett, the head of the London Stock Exchange, is advocating for increased transparency from pension providers regarding their investment portfolios, with a specific focus on UK equities and private assets. Hoggett believes that more explicit reporting on these holdings would stimulate greater domestic investment and bolster the UK's capital markets. This call for transparency coincides with a growing trend among top shareholders of London-listed companies to vocally oppose takeover offers perceived as undervalued. These shareholders are pushing for higher valuations, which is influencing the outcomes of potential deals, though the overall volume of takeover bids is not diminishing. Despite a notable number of companies departing the London Stock Exchange, Hoggett expresses optimism about the exchange's future prospects. She points to the UK's inherent strengths in fostering new companies and its robust institutional capital base. Hoggett attributes the prevailing negative sentiment surrounding the LSE to what she describes as self-inflicted "bad vibes."