London stock market ‘a complete waste of time’, says biotech tycoon
London’s stock market is ‘a complete waste of time’: Italian biotech mogul plans to leave the City
The founder and chairman of a biotech company planning to leave the City has denounced London’s stock market as “a complete waste of time”.
Italian entrepreneur Gabriele Cerrone, who launched Okyo Pharma in July 2018, said building a biotech company in the UK “is like trying to grow plants in the desert.”
Explaining his decision to delist the share on May 12, he said the volume of shares traded in London is “negligible and does not justify the associated costs.”
And he complained that investors are only interested in miners and oil giants.
Snub: Italian entrepreneur Gabriele Cerrone, who launched Okyo Pharma in July 2018, said building a biotech company in the UK ‘is like trying to grow plants in the desert’
The company, which specializes in the treatment of eye diseases and has a market capitalization of £28 million, is also listed on the US technology market Nasdaq.
Cerrone told the Mail: ‘What I’ve learned about trying to set up a niche biotech company in the UK is that it’s like trying to grow plants in the desert.
“It has been a complete waste of time and we have never raised money from investment banks. There is no biotech culture at all and no liquidity in the UK.’
Okyo Pharma’s decision is another setback for the London Stock Exchange amid concerns about its status as one of the world’s leading stock markets.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has vowed to make the UK a ‘more attractive place to list’.
But Cerrone said that in the US there are “a lot of hedge funds, high net worth individuals, analysts and a whole culture of wanting to invest in biotech that doesn’t exist here.”