Pearson PLC (LSE:PSON)’s largest shareholder, the Carl Icahn-backed activist investment firm Cevian Capital, has urged the FTSE 100 constituent to delist from the London Stock Exchange in favour of a US listing.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Cevian’s managing partner Christer Gardell encouraged the move as “an easy and effortless way to increase the value of a company”.
His statement reflects a broader dissatisfaction with how Britain’s investment class values – or undervalues – global companies.
“Pearson is a US company with the majority of sales and executives there. It’s only due to historical reasons it is still listed in the UK,” said Gardell.
Should Pearson, which booked £3.8 billion in group sales in the last financial year, delist, it would be just the latest in a long line of Square Mile snubs by the likes of CRH plc, Kingspan Group PLC (LSE:KGP) and Flutter Entertainment PLC (LSE:FLTR).
German Travel big cap TUI plc is also mulling a delisting.
“As most of the competition is based in the US, we see an upside to the share of 30-40% from a relisting,” Gardell said. “That’s a significant amount of shareholder value, so we expect the board and the management to look into this in a serious manner and to prioritize the issue.”
Pearson raised operating guidance in October after third-quarter revenue grew. The group also initiated a £300 million share buyback programme.
Chief executive Andy Bird is due to step down from the role in January, to be replaced by Microsoft's Industry Solutions president Omar Abbosh.