The City grandee who chaired National Grid is leading an investigation into how Britain can produce more “unicorns” — start-ups valued at more than $1 billion — and how they can be kept here rather than being sold to overseas buyers.
Sir Peter Gershon’s review is understood to have been commissioned by a group of business leaders rather than the government, although it has the support of the Cabinet Office.
It follows Lord (Jonathan) Hill’s recommendations on relaxing the London stock market’s listing rules and former Worldpay boss Ron Kalifa’s report on fintech—both designed to help the UK attract more tech ventures post-Brexit. Separately, Boris Johnson has asked science minister George Freeman to analyse the barriers to scaling up promising companies in the biotech sector.
The review chaired by Gershon, 74, is expected to look at how Britain can try to create the next Amazon or Tesla, and why successful pioneers such as chip designer ARM Holdings and AI start-up DeepMind were sold to Japanese and US investors respectively at relatively early stages in their growth. In particular, it is likely to explore the gap in scale-up funding available, and whether Mifid II solvency rules could be adapted to help insurers funnel more money into start-ups.
Nigel Wilson, chief executive of the FTSE 100 giant Legal & General, may be among figures asked to help with the project. Wilson has been vocal about the need to plough more defined contribution pension-fund money into long-term infrastructure and science.
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This month the City watchdog activated the reforms recommended by Hill, allowing founders with “golden shares” into the premium part of the stock market and lowering free float requirements from 25 per cent to 10 per cent.
Gershon, who previously chaired Tate & Lyle, is well known in Whitehall, having led a review of public-sector efficiency for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in 2004. He declined to comment.
