Five join the rush to AIM
The rush of companies floating on AIM continues apace, with three companies making their debuts yesterday and two more announcing their IPOs on the junior market in the coming days.
They join the growing number of companies quoting on AIM, where 389 firms have floated since the start of the year. In comparison, only 71 companies have listed on the main market.
Max Petroleum, SPI Lasers and Accsys Technologies took turns to go through the traditional bell-ringing ceremony yesterday, celebrating their debut on the junior stock market. Celoxica, a provider of design technology software, will float on AIM today. It has raised £6.3m, valuing the business at £16.1m. Wogen, a London-based international trader in metals and minerals, said that it was expected to start trading on the junior market next Monday, with an expected market capitalisation of £54.8m.
Head of AIM Martin Graham said: “AIM has really come of age in the last two years. So far this year, the total companies joining AIM already exceeds the record total set in 2004. AIM provides an effective way for smaller, growing companies to access London’s equity markets, liquidity and respected regulatory standards.” The largest float of the day was Max Petroleum, an oil and gas exploration and production company that focuses on Kazakhstan. It raised £25.9m and has a market cap of just under £91m.
The company was set up in April to acquire properties in the country, and owns three blocks covering an area eight times the size of Greater London.
Accsys Technologies came a close second with a €132.5m (£90m) market capitalisation. The environmental science and technology company owns the intellectual property of Accoya, a process that converts softwoods and non-durable hardwoods into a new type of wood, whose attributes are similar to tropical hardwoods. It raised €25m.
SPI Lasers raised £10.6m and reached a market capitalisation of £25.5m. The company makes fibre laser technology.
