Bottler Coca-Cola Europacific Partners CCEP said on Friday it plans to change its London stock listing category, in a move that could potentially make the company eligible for inclusion in the benchmark FTSE 100 index.
In July, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rolled out the biggest reform of UK listing rules in decades in a big to help London compete better with New York.
In addition to this, the FCA hoped to help London compete better with European Union financial centres such as Paris and Amsterdam following Brexit.
A new rule merged the previous two-tier standard and more onerous premium listing segments into a single category, making it easier for companies to become eligible for inclusion in London’s FTSE indexes.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, which is also listed in New York, Madrid and Amsterdam, has a market value of €32.65 billion.
An FTSE 100 listing would make it among the top 30 companies listed in the index.
'Increasing The Profile'
Coca-Cola Europacific said, ‘The transfer would assist in increasing the profile of the company in the UK and Europe, create the opportunity to improve the liquidity of its shares traded through UK equity trading venues and promote its attractiveness to a wider potential investors base.”
Other companies that have applied to list under the new regime include e-commerce firm THG, meal delivery company Deliveroo and Oxford Nanopor.
The listing overhaul has also set the UK’s sluggish financial markets on a path to recovery, with an increasing number of companies such as online retailer Shein and Applied Nutrition looking to list in London.
Coca-Cola Europacific, which bottles Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and Monster drinks in Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has requested that the FCA approve the change in its listing category with effect from 15 November.
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