Molten Ventures, the Irish State-backed venture capital firm, said that it has decided to quit the Dublin stock market and remain quoted in London, as it has become increasingly challenging to deal with diverging regulatory requirements in the wake of Brexit.
The company, which listed in Dublin almost a decade ago, said that it remains committed to investing in Ireland, having launched an Irish-focused fund with the backing of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF). ISIF owns about 7.4 per cent of Molten Ventures.
The Irish Fund invests into high growth technology companies whose core activities, management and expertise are based in the Republic.
“Molten has benefited from a listing in Ireland for almost a decade. This, however, has become increasingly difficult to maintain with further divergence in regulatory requirements and expectations between the UK and the European Union following Brexit,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
It is anticipated the delisting will simplify compliance and regulatory obligations of Molten and reduce central costs, the company said. Molten’s shares are very thinly traded in Dublin.
“We’ve been investing in Irish technology companies for over 15 years, including our continued support of companies like [drone delivery company] Manna and, most recently Deciphex, an AI-powered digital diagnostics company,” said Nicola McClafferty, a partner with Molten Ventures.
The Irish fund’s other domestic holdings include Sweepr, a tech provider to telecoms companies, fintech CurrencyFair and cybersecurity company Vaultree.
“Ireland is a key geography for innovation and technical talent, and Molten Ventures is proud to be part of this vibrant ecosystem. We are committed to maintaining our presence here, backing world-leading Irish companies and founders.”
The delisting marks a further shrinking of the Dublin stock market, or Euronext Dublin, following a wave of exits over the past decade, including decisions by three heavyweight companies – CRH, Flutter Entertainment and Smurfit WestRock – to delist in Ireland as they chose New York for their main listings.
Three IPOs in Dublin over the past six years have been more than offset by the flurry of exits, which also include Applegreen, CPL Resources and Hibernia Reit being taken over.
Euronext Dublin is planning the launch of a “springboard” market for small companies this year under efforts to fight back against the tide of market exits.
Daryl Byrne, chief executive of Euronext Dublin, said in February that development work on establishing a Euronext Access market in Dublin, similar to ones operated by the wider Euronext Group in Paris, Brussels and Lisbon, was completed at the end of January.
The exchange plans to wait until at least two initial companies – most likely from the technology sector – are ready to take the plunge before launching the platform.
However, global equity markets have been subject to major volatility in recent times as investors weigh the protectionist policies of US president Donald Trump. Mr Trump was forced last week to pause most of his recently-announced tariffs on the rest of the world, following a sell-off of US stocks and bonds.
