British American Tobacco under pressure to exit London listing for US - reports

Pressure from GQG Partners

British American Tobacco’s fifth-largest shareholder has urged the company to move its primary listing from London to New York.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Rajiv Jain, founder of GQG Partners, a $92bn US-based investment firm, said it "makes no sense" for the FTSE 100 company to remain on the UK stock market, adding that it had asked its owner to quit London. "BATS is an orphan in Europe," he said. "The core ownership base [of BATS] has disappeared. It makes no sense for them to remain there." The investor questioned the company's UK listing, pointing to the US-centric nature of the cigarette maker's business and the valuation gap between the company and its US-listed competitor Philip Morris Int...