AIM

The head of London’s Alternative Investment Market Marcus Stuttard has called on the European Commission to use regulation to make it easier for small European businesses to raise money in London.

“If you look at the 23m small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe … 50 per cent of their finance is credit card finance, with another 48 per cent being overdraft and bank finance,” he said.

Link: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ff96367a-5562-11e1-9d95-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1tQpinzA4

Qannas Investments, a company managed by Abu Dhabi Capital Management (ADCM) aims to raise up to $50 million through an initial offering on AIM.

Qannas Investments is a Jersey-domiciled closed-ended investment company which involves a $200 million investment program with funds expected to be raised in four equity offerings over 3 to 4 years.

Link: http://www.tradearabia.com/news/BANK_211228.html

The number of companies arriving on the Alternative Investment Market is starting to outpace departures for the first time since 2007. The accountancy firmUHY Hacker Young has calculated that 24 new companies joined in the third quarter, while only 21 left.Nevertheless, the average amount of new money raised for each IPOhas fallen by 20 per cent to about £8m ($12m) over the year.

Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a1d6c44-ea96-11e0-b0f5-00144feab49a.html

Several Indian small and medium enterprises from the power, natural resources and oil & gas sectors are lining up to tap London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to raise funds.

“Indian equity market is going through extreme volatile times, and fund raising has become very difficult. London’s AIM market offers a good opportunity for small and medium companies with sound business models to raise funds in less time compared with the 6-12 months required in the domestic market,” Nikhil Bahel, managing director of investment banking division at Religare Capital Markets, told Financial Chronicle.

In the recent past, companies such as Essar Energy, KSK Power Ventures, Greenko Group and Hirco Group successfully raised funds and got listed on AIM.

Link: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/power-oil-gas-smes-eye-listing-aim-london-673

A majority of institutional investors (60%) and AIM-listed companies (63%) are optimistic regarding further improvement in AIM performance over the next 12 months. Baker Tilly has released its annual survey of investors and companies on AIM. According to it, 80% of investors say their overall portfolio has benefited in 2010 from investing in AIM.  Access to funds remains the major concern for companies on AIM, but this was mentioned less frequently by those in the survey (28% versus 45% a year ago).

Link: http://www.bakertilly.co.uk/publications/ta2011-looking-forward.aspx