Wiltshire brewer Wadworth will be the first company to trade through a Wadworth PISCES auction on Asset Match’s newly approved private markets platform, with existing shareholders able to submit sell orders from 11 August to 30 September. Buyers and shareholders can access company reports and auction details from 4 August.
Ben Weaver, Business Development Director at Asset Match, said the auction ‘represents the first opportunity’ for a broader pool of investors to acquire shares in Wadworth. ‘We believe there is strong investor appetite for established private companies with recognised brands, tangible assets and long-term growth potential,’ Weaver said. ‘We expect Wadworth inaugural PISCES auction to attract significant interest.’
Wadworth PISCES Auction: What Shareholders Get
Wadworth, founded in 1875 and best known for its 6X ale, has traded its A Ordinary Shares on the Asset Match platform since February 2023. More than 300,000 shares have changed hands to date.
The current bid price for Wadworth A Ordinary Shares on the PISCES platform is listed at 105.00p. Asset Match will operate markets across all four Wadworth share classes: A Ordinary Shares, Ordinary Shares, 10.25% Preference Shares, and 9.5% Preference Shares.
Simon Townsend, chairman of Wadworth, said the transaction would ‘broaden awareness of the company’ among investors. The brewer relocated from its historic Northgate site in Devizes to a new facility on Folly Road, completing the move in 2023.
Asset Match and the PISCES Sandbox
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) granted Asset Match its PISCES approval in April, designating it a sandbox entrant without conditions under firm reference number 579310. Asset Match brings more than 13 years of experience facilitating liquidity in private company shares, having traded more than 45 companies via its auction-based model before launching PISCES.
The PISCES sandbox opened on 10 June 2025 and is scheduled to run until June 2030, after which the FCA and HM Treasury will determine whether to embed the framework in permanent legislation. Platform operators must hold at least £150,000 in capital at all times, in line with the standard minimum requirement for multilateral trading facilities, per FCA sandbox rules.
The UK Government has also confirmed that existing Enterprise Management Incentive and Company Share Option Plan options can be amended to allow exercise and sale on PISCES venues without losing their tax-efficient status, a concession that may widen the pool of sellers on future auctions.
Rivals Are Also Counting Early Transactions
Asset Match faces competition from JP Jenkins, Vestd, and the London Stock Exchange Group’s own Private Securities Market. The LSE platform has posted the two largest transactions under the PISCES framework so far.
Fintech Moneybox completed a £45m employee share sale through the LSE’s market last month. The Moneybox transaction valued the company at approximately £800m, around 45% above its 2024 fundraise valuation of roughly £550m.
Autonomous driving firm Wayve followed with a larger transaction. The snippet reported a £63m figure; the LSEG press release gives the employee tender as US$85m, with Wayve valued at over US$1.5bn following a US$1.5bn funding round backed by SoftBank and Microsoft. The sterling and dollar figures differ; the LSEG primary-source figure is used here.
JP Jenkins has completed one transaction, processing shares in digital board game maker QPLAY in March. Vestd has yet to list a company on its framework.
Wadworth’s first trading window closes on 30 September, making that date the earliest hard evidence of whether Asset Match can convert its 13-year track record in private-share auctions into demonstrable PISCES liquidity.
