As part of its drive to attract international companies, the London Stock Exchange today introduced a new fast-track admission route to AIM, its international market for smaller, growing companies. Companies already listed on nine overseas exchanges will now be able to use their existing annual report and accounts as a basis for a complementary quotation on AIM.

The Exchange expects the new route to make it considerably easier and faster for smaller, overseas-listed companies to access institutional investors in London as well as the wider European capital market. This means companies can diversify their investor base and access an additional pool of capital to their home market.

Simon Brickles, Head of AIM at the London Stock Exchange, said: "There are investors and capital ready for international companies in London. If a company has already gone through a due diligence process on another market, that can now help them access London's benefits via AIM. This initiative continues our rolling programme of innovative measures to make AIM more accessible to overseas companies."

Companies that can take advantage of the fast-track route to AIM are those already listed on the main markets of the Australian Stock Exchange, Euronext, Deutsche Börse, JSE Securities Exchange (South Africa), Nasdaq, NYSE, Stockholmsbörsen, Swiss Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange. London Stock Exchange-approved nominated advisers will play an important role advising 'fast-track' companies, thereby maintaining AIM’s well-respected standards of regulation.

The Exchange said that the further internationalisation of AIM also benefits UK companies on the market, since it will raise the market's profile and build further investor interest. AIM has been a success story against a global backdrop of lacklustre IPO markets in recent years. In 2002, there were 60 IPOs on AIM, representing 46 per cent of all the IPOs in western Europe for the year.

Notes to editors

At the end of April 2003 there were 705 companies on AIM with a total market capitalisation of £10.0 billion. Of these, 51 were international companies, with a combined market capitalisation of £1.2 billion. More information and statistics for AIM can be found at www.londonstockexchange.com/aim.

The Exchange made the changes to the AIM Rules to allow fast-track access in response to market demand and after a full and open consultation.

Procedures are in place for approving other AIM Designated Markets in due course.

In most cases 'fast-track' companies will not need to produce an AIM admission document, since they will use their existing annual reports and accounts as a basis for admission instead. However, companies using the new route are required to:

• have been traded on one of the nine AIM Designated Markets for at least 18 months.
  
• give a minimum 20 business days’ notice to the market that they intend to join, instead of the usual 10 days. The notice should include any further information required under AIM disclosure rules, which has not already been disclosed in the home market.
  
• join the market within 9 calendar months of their financial year-end.
  
• appoint and retain a London Stock Exchange-approved nominated adviser (nomad).
  
• have their nomad perform any additional due diligence and warrant that they are suitable for AIM.
  
• abide by AIM’s ongoing disclosure obligations once they are on the market.
  
• have an address or website address where any announcements the company has made during the last two years are available. (Only for public announcements and documents published as a consequence of the company's securities being traded.)

Full details of the new rules can be found at www.londonstockexchange.com/aim/rules

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