Raspberry Pi shares to list at 280p in London IPO

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Shares in British microcomputer maker Raspberry Pi have been priced at 280p before public trading begins in London on Friday, indicating a market valuation of £541.6mn.

The listing is a boost to London’s stock market, which has struggled to attract interest from high-growth technology firms, which prefer to list in New York.

Shares jumped 39 per cent in “conditional dealing”, which is only open to certain institutional shareholders, early on Tuesday.

In a statement, chief executive Eben Upton said the marketing process had “underlined our belief that London has the right calibre and sophistication of investor to support growing, ambitious technology businesses”.

The total offer size, which will be open to retail investors from Friday, amounts to £166mn, representing about 30.7 per cent of the company’s ordinary shares.

Raspberry Pi said the total offer size would rise to £178.9mn if the overallotment option, in which additional shares would be made available by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, is exercised in full, representing about 33 per cent of its shares.

Raspberry Pi began trading in 2012 and has since sold more than 60mn single-board computers and computer modules. It expects to sell 8.4mn units in 2024, up from 7.4mn in 2023, according to a registration document.

The low-cost computer maker said its revenues rose to $265.8mn in 2023, with pre-tax profits almost doubling to $38.2mn, according to filings.

British chip designer Arm, which listed in New York in September 2023, has committed to purchase $35mn of shares in the IPO, building on the 3.4 per cent stake it took last October, according to a registration document published in May. Lansdowne Partners, another existing shareholder, has committed to purchase up to $20mn.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation, which was founded in 2008 to promote computer science education for young people, held almost 73 per cent of shares in the computer-maker prior to the IPO. It said it would remain a shareholder.

Other significant shareholders in Raspberry Pi include technology group Sony and the Ezrah Charitable Trust, a US-based private foundation that has also donated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Jefferies International and Peel Hunt were engaged as joint bookrunners for Raspberry Pi.