Goldman Sachs' Petershill to delist from London in latest blow to UK stock market

By Yadarisa Shabong

(Reuters) -British investment group Petershill Partners said on Thursday it would delist from the London Stock Exchange and return money to shareholders, citing dissatisfaction with its share price performance and valuation and delivering another setback to the UK equity market.  

Majority owned by Goldman Sachs and known for buying stakes in hedge funds, Petershill launched in 2007 and made its London market debut in September 2021.

The decision to delist is another setback for London's stock market, where a wave of companies leaving has coincided with persistent challenges in attracting new listings, even after recent reforms.

Under the proposal, Petershill's free-float shareholders would get $4.15 per share in cash and an interim dividend of $0.052 per share, totalling $4.202 apiece and representing a premium of about 35% to the stock's last closing price.

The deal values the company at $4.5 billion.   

Shares in the company, which have fallen by about a third from their IPO price, surged as much as 34% to 3.09 pounds ($4.16).  

At the time of its IPO in 2021, Naguib Kheraj, Petershill's chairman, said the listing would give "public market investors a unique opportunity to gain diversified access to the rapidly growing alternative investment industry".

Since then, Petershill has grown assets under management from $187 billion to $351 billion as of June 2025. However, the company has consistently traded at a steep discount to both book value and comparable listed alternative asset managers.

"Despite the Company's strong operating and financial performance and these strategic initiatives, the Company's share price and valuation has, in the view of the Board, not appropriately reflected the quality and underlying value of the Company's assets," it said.

Analysts at Jefferies said it was a "perfectly reasonable decision" to seek delisting after the group undertook strategic initiatives in the past 18 months. 

Goldman Sachs-managed private funds, which hold 79.49% of Petershill's shares, will not participate in the capital return but have agreed to support the delisting.

The transaction requires approval from free-float shareholders representing at least 75% of votes cast at court and general meetings expected in November.

(1 British pound = $1.3456)

($1 = 0.7432 pounds)

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Louise Heavens)