A technology platform specialising in regulatory compliance will this week outline plans to join the London stock market in a welcome, and rare, boost to the City.
Sky News understands that RTOP, which works with clients in the financial services sector, is to announce that it is pursuing a direct listing in London – a process which involves a company going public without issuing any new shares.
City sources said the listing was expected to value RTOP at about £60m, and was being orchestrated by The AvantGarde Group, the Milan-based business which owns it.
An announcement is expected as early as Tuesday.
RTOP owns a platform called Orbit Open, which helps clients comply with complex regulatory requirements.
It works with a number of large Italian banks, and hopes that a London listing will broaden its client base.
The company’s decision to go public in the UK comes during a time of intense introspection about London’s future as a magnet for big company listings, with the British-based chip designer ARM about to unveil formal proposals for a Nasdaq flotation in New York.
Direct listings of the one being used by RTOP are rare in the London market, while the City has seen few initial public offerings on any meaningful scale this year.
CAB Payments, a money transfer business, raised £335m from a UK IPO last month, although that news was partly overshadowed by the abandonment of a similar move by WE soda after it failed to agree on a valuation with investors.
RTOP declined to comment.