London-based autonomous driving firm Wayve has completed the first-ever transaction on the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) Private Securities Market, letting current employees cash out $85m (£66.7m) in vested equity. The transaction marks the first major real-world test for the UK government’s new Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES)
Oscar Hornstein
London-based autonomous driving firm Wayve has completed the first-ever transaction on the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) Private Securities Market, letting current employees cash out $85m (£66.7m) in vested equity.
The transaction marks the first major real-world test for the UK government’s new Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) regulatory framework.
The platform allows scaleups to run intermittent liquidity auctions using public market infrastructure while technically remaining private businesses.
The secondary share sale was executed through a permissioned auction managed exclusively by Crowdcube and investment bank Stifel.
Legal and financial advisory was handled by Latham & Watkins and Deloitte.
Wayve’s employee tender serves as a major validation for the LSE’s bid to stop fast-growing British tech companies from looking across the Atlantic for late-stage liquidity.
“We congratulate Wayve on this milestone transaction, enabling their current employees to realise some of the value that they have helped to create throughout Wayve’s incredible journey so far,” said Dame Julia Hoggett, chief executive of London Stock Exchange plc.
“We are encouraged to see the innovation and opportunity that the Private Securities Market and PISCES framework offer to companies looking for new routes to provide liquidity for their different types of shareholders.”
