The AIM Regulation team at the London Stock Exchange has published the second edition of Inside AIM, providing non-binding guidance on the following issues.
Corporate governance for AIM companies
Given the nature of the companies listed on AIM the LSE considers that a blanket requirement to “comply or explain” against a particular code of corporate governance is not appropriate. However, the LSE supports the use of the QCA’s Corporate Governance Guidelines for AIM Companies and views the UK Corporate Governance Code as a standard that public companies should aspire to. The LSE also sees the involvement of nomads as a key benefit of AIM and states that “nomads are in an excellent position to work with their AIM company clients…to consider and set out the corporate governance standards with which the company is going to comply”.
Guidance on AIM Rules
The newsletter contains a number of FAQs which address, among other things, the interpretation of certain AIM Rules, including:
- Rule 15: investing companies. A company that has become a Rule 15 investing company has 12 months (followed by a six month suspension period) to either implement its investing policy or carry out a reverse takeover. If it wants to remain a cash shell for longer it must readmit to AIM as a Rule 8 investing company following the usual admission process. It cannot avoid the 12 month deadline for being suspended simply by raising a minimum of £3 million and therefore becoming an investing company subject to Rule 8.
- Rule 28: no omission of historical financial information on the target. Historical financial information of the target cannot be omitted from the admission document when an AIM company is undertaking a reverse takeover and the target is an AIM or Main Market company.
Click here for this edition of Inside AIM.
