Virtually unknown in the US until a couple of years ago, the
Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the junior market of the London Stock
Exchange, has started to attract serious attention from US companies looking to
raise capital.
As of year end 2005 there were about 1400 companies listed on AIM. Of these, 220
were non-UK companies, from 25 countries – the first Chinese listing took place
in Spring 2005.There were 29 companies from the US, of which 20 were added in
2005.
Through the first quarter, the pace of listing has accelerated and, barring
malign macro-economic influences, 2006 promises to add more than the 500
companies admitted to the market in 2005. In particular, 2006 is likely to be a
year in which a record number of US companies trek across the pond for a
listing.
There are several reasons for the high degree of interest in the AIM today. In
the article located at
http://www.focusenterprises.com/publications/newsletter_2006_may.asp, Gerald
Turner from FOCUS Enterprises details six solid reasons for the growing interest
in AIM, and describes the steps US firms need to take in order to participate
successfully.
