Bending Spoons, the Italian app acquisition and restructuring company backed by Baillie Gifford European Growth (BGEU) and stablemate Schiehallion (MNTN), saw its shares surge 39.7% in their Nasdaq debut yesterday.
From a listing price of $29 (£21.80), that was just above the initial range, BSP shares enjoyed strong investor demand on their first day of trading and closed at $40.50 (£30.50).
This lifted the valuation of the Milan-based owner of apps like AOL, Vimeo, and Eventbrite to $25.7bn (£19.3bn), up from $18.4bn (£13.8bn) at the start of the day.
Bending Spoons and its private equity investors raised $1.68bn by selling around 58m ordinary shares in the initial public offer (IPO).
The IPO marks another success for Baillie Gifford following last month’s record $1.3trn flotation of SpaceX, which it also backed.
The Edinburgh-based fund management group said it first invested in Bending Spoons in August 2023, when it was valued just under $1bn. Since then it has deployed about $192m of clients’ capital in several funding rounds. Before the IPO, the firm’s overall holding across funds and client portfolios was worth around $1.2bn, a sum that will now stand at around $1.7bn.
BGEU, which invested £4.4m between August 2023 and February 2024, had seen that position grow around 12 times to £53.2m at 22 June, when it accounted for 13.4% of the trust’s assets, said Baillie Gifford. That’s up from 11.8% on 10 June when the trust issued a short update after Bending Spoons filed an intention to float, having previously disclosed a 9.7% weighting at 31 May.
MNTN invested $42m from August 2023 to March 2026 and by 22 June had seen the holding rise around nine times to $385.5m, accounting for 16.7% of assets. That is up from 15.2% at 10 June and from 13% at 31 May.
James Budden, global head of marketing at Baillie Gifford, said it was another example of the firm’s approach of backing exceptional private companies. “For clients in Schiehallion and European Growth Trust, this has translated into meaningful value creation within a relatively short period.”
He added: “We believe Bending Spoons challenges conventional categories. Rather than a traditional private equity roll-up, it represents a new model for transforming digital applications, improving the underlying product and running them more efficiently.”
Stay a step ahead. Our daily newsletter brings you the latest on investment trusts and active ETFs. Subscribe here.
