AS Watson's £24bn Dual Listing Tests London's Pull Against Hong Kong

The float, targeted for completion before the end of 2026, is being advised by Goldman Sachs, UBS and Latham & Watkins, according to the FT report. People close to the plans told the newspaper that the primary listing location is still being debated and that the transaction remains subject to market conditions.

If it proceeds on that timetable, the AS Watson listing would be one of the largest London IPOs in years, arriving at a moment when the city's equity market is trying to rebuild credibility after a prolonged drought.

What AS Watson's dual listing would look like

AS Watson operates more than 17,000 stores across 12 retail brands in 31 markets and employs 140,000 people worldwide, according to the company's disclosures. Group revenue in the most recent financial year totalled HK$209bn (approximately £19.9bn).

A dual listing in London and Hong Kong would allow the company to tap institutional capital in both markets while giving CK Hutchison Holdings, its parent, flexibility over where the centre of gravity sits. The question of which exchange secures the primary listing carries real consequences: index inclusion, analyst coverage, liquidity and, ultimately, valuation.

For London, winning primary status would represent a significant vote of confidence. The city has struggled in recent years to attract large international listings, with several high-profile companies choosing New York or Amsterdam instead. Securing the primary leg of a $30bn float from an Asia-headquartered group would counter that narrative directly.

For Hong Kong, the listing is a more natural fit given AS Watson's ownership structure and operational geography. The outcome of the debate between the two venues will say as much about London's competitiveness as it does about AS Watson's capital needs.

Superdrug's numbers: why the business is IPO-ready

Superdrug, the UK arm most familiar to British consumers, reported revenue of £1.6bn in the year to December 2024, a rise of 7%, according to its most recent accounts filed at Companies House. Profit before tax climbed 23% to £137m. The retailer also created more than 600 new jobs during the period.

"2024 was another tough year for the retail sector and although inflation reduced throughout the year the legacy impact of higher prices, and sustained higher interest rates, contributed to squeezing consumers' disposable income," the company said in its accounts.

Those figures position Superdrug as a business growing both top line and margin in a difficult consumer environment. A 23% jump in pre-tax profit, set against a backdrop of squeezed household budgets and elevated costs, gives prospective investors a relatively clean equity story: a mature, cash-generative retailer with a recognised high-street brand.

The broader AS Watson portfolio, which includes the Watsons pharmacy chain across Asia and the Kruidvat drugstore brand in continental Europe, adds geographic diversification that a standalone Superdrug listing would lack. That breadth is central to the $30bn valuation expectation.

CK Hutchison's asset sell-down and what it signals

The planned float fits a well-established pattern at CK Hutchison, the conglomerate controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. The group has been steadily rotating out of mature or capital-intensive UK assets.

Earlier in May 2026, CK Hutchison sold its 49% stake in UK telecoms operator Three to Vodafone for £4.3bn, giving Vodafone complete control of the recently formed VodafoneThree entity, as reported by City AM. Separately, CK Hutchison's pub chain Greene King announced the sale of 150 pubs, citing rising costs, and offloaded its Old Speckled Hen beer brand to Spanish brewer Estrella Damm.

CK Hutchison is also reportedly considering a listing of its European telecoms business, according to the Financial Times. Taken together, the moves suggest a conglomerate that is systematically monetising assets where it sees limited incremental growth, freeing capital for redeployment elsewhere.

An IPO rather than a trade sale keeps AS Watson within the group while crystallising value. A $2bn raise would represent a relatively modest dilution against the $30bn headline valuation, suggesting CK Hutchison is not looking for a full exit but rather a partial monetisation and a public-market currency for the business.

London's retail IPO pipeline: who else is in the queue

AS Watson would not be arriving alone. London's pipeline of prospective retail and consumer floats now includes several large names, collectively estimated at up to £20bn in potential market capitalisation, according to City AM analysis.

Boots, the pharmacy chain owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Waterstones, the bookseller backed by Elliott Advisors, are both said to be considering London listings. Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF) announced last month that it will spin off Primark as a separately listed entity, with the intention of securing a place on the FTSE 100.

The London market saw a late flurry of IPOs towards the end of 2025, ending a two-year drought, with Shawbrook and Princes among the new entrants, as reported by City AM. Hopes that the momentum would carry into 2026 were disrupted by geopolitical instability linked to the conflict in Iran, which froze several planned offerings. Signs that the conflict may be drawing to a close have since thawed investor sentiment, according to the same report.

For UK capital-market policymakers, the convergence of these floats represents a critical window. The Financial Conduct Authority's listing-rule reforms, finalised in 2024, were designed in part to make London more attractive to international issuers. The AS Watson dual listing is among the first major tests of whether those reforms translate into real deal flow.

What this means for the FTSE's consumer weighting

Should AS Watson, Primark and Boots all list in London within a similar timeframe, the FTSE's consumer-sector weighting would shift materially. The index has historically been dominated by resources, financials and pharmaceuticals. A cluster of large retail listings would rebalance that composition and, in turn, alter the profile of capital flowing into UK tracker funds.

None of these outcomes is guaranteed. AS Watson's advisers are still debating primary-listing location. Market conditions could shift again. But the intent is clear: London is being considered seriously for a float of this scale, and that alone marks a change from the mood of the past three years.