Here are two common complaints that I often hear from AIM CEOs.
1. I have to deal with complaints from private investor shareholders who have not been able to participate in my latest placing.
2. I struggle to implement quite modest fundraisings (because institutional investors are seeking ever larger companies) but I am unable to involve my private investor shareholders.
In my opinion, the 1st July 2011 saw what hindsight will show to be a seminal event in improving the fundraising process available to both unquoted and listed companies with private investors. Sharemark, the matched bargain trading platform owned by private investor stockbroker, The Share Centre, launched a Primary Fundraising service. Click here to read the press release. The Sharemark Primary Fundraising service potentially provides a solution to both of the situations described above because it is a relatively low cost, convenient way for companies to make sub €2.5 million offers to the public (i.e. below the EU Prospectus Directive threshold).
Lesmoir-Gordon, Boyle & Co Ltd (LGB), the parent company of www.lcfresearch.com, has been appointed a corporate finance Sponsor to the service. The companies which LGB sponsors will conform to the investment template followed by LCF Research. Private investors will have two means of participating in the service, namely:
- either as a client of The Share Centre (www.share.com).
- or via his or her existing stockbroker provided that the latter has made arrangements to trade on Sharemark. To see a list of registered brokers, click here and on the link in the final paragraph of the resulting page.
You are likely to need to bring Sharemark fundraisings to the attention of your broker rather than vice versa (because of regulatory hurdles). If you want to be kept informed about Sharemark fundraisings being sponsored by LGB, please register on www.sophisticated-investor.co.uk, a website also owned by LGB.
