Ex-BT chief Patterson sounded out about £300m Waves Audio float

A former BT Group chief is being lined up to steer an audio technology business used by many of the world's leading musicians through a £300m London flotation.

Sky News has learnt that Gavin Patterson, who now sits on various boards including Ocado Group, is in talks to chair Waves Audio ahead of a listing which could come as soon as next month.

City sources said an agreement between the company and Mr Patterson had yet to be finalised.

Sky News revealed several weeks ago that Waves Audio, which is headquartered in Israel, had hired bankers from Panmure Liberum to oversee an initial public offering (IPO).

The company, which is majority-owned by founders Meir Sha'ashua and Gilad Keren, is expected to raise millions of pounds from the sale of new shares, although the details have yet to be finalised.

Waves Audio makes professional digital audio signal processing technology and audio effects used in recordings, mixing, mastering, post-production, broadcasting and live sound.

It employs more than 200 people, and has a major international presence, including in Europe and the US.

A successful float on London's main market would be a relative rarity given the depressed level of IPO activity in the last couple of years.

Data compiled by EY, the professional services firm, showed that there were just five new listings on the London market in the first quarter of the year.

Pessimism about the outlook for flotations has been compounded by a steady trickle of companies cancelling their London listings or shifting them overseas - with drugmaker Indivior the latest to abandon the City on Monday.

The UK market's biggest hope - that Shein, the Chinese-founded online fashion retailer, would defy the impact of US President Donald Trump's tariffs and list in London - appears to have been dashed, with reports last week suggesting that it would float in Hong Kong instead.

A spokesman for Waves Audio declined to comment.