AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market.
AIM launched on 19 June 1995 and has raised almost £24 billion and has helped more than 3,000 small-medium-sized companies raise equity to support their growth. Among these are companies from particularly high-growth areas such as technology, clean-tech and biotech. Flexibility is provided by less regulation and no requirements for capitalisation or number of shares issued. Some companies have since moved on to join the Main Market, although in the last few years, significantly more companies transferred from the Main Market to the AIM (the AIM has significant tax advantages for investors, as well as less regulatory burden for the companies themselves). In 2005, 40 companies moved directly from the Main Market to the AIM, while only two companies moved from the AIM to the Main Market.
AIM has also started to become an international exchange, often due to its low regulatory burden, especially in relation to the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act (though only a quarter of AIM-listed companies would qualify to list on a U.S. stock exchange even prior to passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act). As of December 2005 over 270 foreign companies had been admitted to the AIM.
The FTSE Group maintains three indices for measuring the AIM, which are the FTSE AIM UK 50 Index, FTSE AIM 100 Index, and FTSE AIM All-Share Index.
Regulatory model
AIM is an exchange regulated venue featuring an array of principles-based rules for publicly held companies. AIM's regulatory model is based on a comply-or-explain option that lets companies that are floated on AIM either comply with AIM's relatively few rules, or explain why it has decided not to comply with them.
Nominated Advisers (Nomads)
Aside from granting leeway in regard to regulatory compliance, the Exchange also mandates continuous oversight and advice by the issuer's underwriter, referred to as a Nominated Adviser (Nomad). The role of Nomads is central to AIM's regulatory model, as these entities play the role of gatekeepers, advisers and regulators of AIM companies. In advising each firm as to which rules should be complied with and the manner in which existing requirements should be met, Nomads provide the essential service of allowing firms to abide by tailor-made regulation, reducing regulatory costs in the process. Theoretically, Nomads are liable for damages from tolerating misdemeanors on behalf of their supervised companies, including the loss of reputational capital. However, this heavy reliance on Nomads has been criticised as creating a conflict of interest, since Nomads receive fees from the companies they purportedly supervise while, in practice, managing to avoid liability for market misconduct .
In 2006, the London Stock Exchange launched a review of Nomad activities, resulting in a regulatory "handbook" for Nomads published by the Financial Services Authority in 2007.
Self-regulation
Because AIM is an unregulated market segment, it escapes most of the mandatory provisions contained in European Union directives - as implemented in the UK - and other rules applicable to companies listed in the LSE. AIM believes self-regulation is pivotal to AIM's low regulatory burden: companies seeking an AIM listing are not subject to significant admission requirements; after admission is granted, firms must comply with ongoing obligations which are comparatively lower to the ones that govern the operation of larger exchanges; and certain corporate governance provisions are not mandatory for AIM companies. Therefore, AIM-listed companies are often subject to manipulation by institutional investors. AIM-listed companies usually are only required to adhere to the corporate governance requirements of their home jurisdiction, which, as a practical matter, vary widely.
However, the regulatory requirements are more onerous than for private companies and AIM listed plcs are required to prepare audited annual accounts under IFRS.
Investor base
Another important element of AIM's model is the composition of its investor base. Although AIM-listed companies are not start-ups, most are small and highly risky. This may prove to be hazardous for unsophisticated investors who lack both the knowledge and resources to conduct proper inquiries into a firm's prospects and activities, or even larger investors which lack strong internal control and risk management requirements. As a consequence, AIM's investor base is largely composed of institutional investors and wealthy individuals.
Investment Market Video
Market capitalisation
The following table lists the 10 biggest AIM companies on 17 May 2012.
Source: File linked from this page.
Criticism
"Casino" environment
In March 2007, U.S. securities regulator Roel Campos suggested that AIM's rules for share trading have created a market like a "casino". Campos reportedly said: "I'm concerned that 30% of issuers that list on AIM are gone in a year. That feels like a casino to me and I believe that investors will treat it as such." The comment resulted in several angry retorts, including one from the London Stock Exchange, which controls AIM, pointing out that the number of companies that go into liquidation or administration in a year is actually fewer than 2%.
AIM has since issued new rules requiring that listed companies maintain a website.
Langbar International fraud
AIM was criticised for allowing Langbar International to be listed. This £375 million ($750m) share fraud was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office and the City of London Police when it was discovered in November 2005 that Langbar had none of the assets it declared at listing. This was due in part because the Nomad (Nominated Adviser) failed to carry out due diligence. Also, the Exchange did not ensure that the AIM rules had been complied with. The AIM changed the rules for Nomads in 2006. On 19 October 2007 they fined Nabarro Wells £250,000 ($512,500) and publicly censured them for breaches of the AIM rules.
Trends
In March 2007 the Daily Telegraph noticed a tendency to use listing vehicles incorporated in offshore financial centres prior to floating on AIM. Some 35% of the companies floated on AIM during 2006 were from OFCs, of which the majority came from the Channel Islands or the British Virgin Islands.
On 29 January 2009 it was announced that AIM is to form the basis of an Asian-orientated growth or incubator market called 'Tokyo AIM', which will be run as a joint venture between the Tokyo Stock Exchange and LSE. Tokyo AIM will replicate AIM's system of oversight by NOMADs, with 'J-Nomads' being "selected and approved by TOKYO AIM ... to assess companies' suitability for the market".
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