New spac to list in London with eye on insurtech market
A new Spac has announced plans to float on the London Stock Exchange today as it eyes up an acquisition target in the booming insurtech industry.
Financial Acquisitions Corp, led by finance veterans William Allen and Andrew Rear, said it is looking to raise £150m from investors through the listing.
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) float with the intention of then acquiring a private firm and bringing it onto the public markets, and the new listing will be a boon to the LSE which has lagged other markets in tempting Spacs to come to market.
The new firm said it was the right time to bring insurtech firms onto the public markets.
“We are delighted to launch the first UK SPAC that will be focused on the rapidly growing Insurtech industry,” said boss William Allen.
“Technology has transformed every facet of daily life and ambitious tech-enabled insurers are driving this growth as they disrupt traditional markets.”
The burgeoning insurtech space has boomed in recent years, with $3.1bn worth of funding pumped into firms last year across 113 deals, according to CBI Insights.
The listing from Financial Acquisitions Corp also comes just one month after Ondo became the first insurtech firm to go public in London, via a Spac acquisition last month.
London has lagged behind other financial capitals in tempting Spacs to market, with critics claiming that restrictive regulation is blocking an opportunity that other capitals have pounced on.
GP Bullhound, a London-based investment firm, announced it would be shunning the capital to list in Amsterdam earlier this year.
Boss Manish Madhvani told City PM: “At the moment, there are still some challenges that London needs to address if it is to be the most desirable listing destination.”