Wise to incorporate in Jersey ahead of US listing
In documents outlining its plans to move its main listing from London, the £10 billion company said it would still be resident in the UK for tax purposes.
Wise did not make a pledge in the documents to keep its headquarters in London, although David Wells, the chairman, said that the company 'remained committed to the UK, where we first started and scaled and where today about one-fifth of the company is based'.
Originally known as TransferWise, the business was founded by Estonians Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus in London in 2011 to help people send money abroad cheaply and easily. It floated in London ten years later and now employs 6,000 people.
Kristo Kaarmann
CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES
Its decision to have its primary listing in New York exacerbated concerns about the health of the London Stock Exchange.
• How to save London's stock market, by LSE boss David Schwimmer
Kaarmann, the chief executive, owns 18 per cent of the shares but just over 50 per cent of the voting rights. This so-called dual-class structure is unusual in London but is more common in New York, and was due to expire next year.
The circular to shareholders sets out the merits of retaining this structure, saying that 'major companies with dual-class share structures flourish in the US'.
It added: 'These structures support management's ability to focus and execute on the long-term and founder-led vision. In a multitude of instances, we have seen that focus translate into shareholder value: studies suggest that US-listed companies with dual or multi-class share structures then outperform those with a single share class in both the short and medium term.'
This appears to be the the first time that Wise has set out the merits of the dual-class structure so clearly. It had previously pointed to America as having the 'deepest and most liquid capital market' in the world and said it would 'drive greater awareness of Wise in the US', where it intends to seek growth.
David Schwimmer, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group, said last week that he would be 'open minded' about changing UK rules to remove the three-year limit on dual-class share structures. However, such a move would be decided by regulators or the government.
Wise's circular does not mention whether it intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange or the tech-focused Nasdaq market. Shareholders will vote on the move on July 28.
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