What is it with the US at the moment..?
Yet another person is showing a touch of the green eyed monster… Roel Campos, a top SEC official has called Aim a “casino”. This, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that Aim’s success at attracting US companies is on the up; and it really seems to be getting up America’s nose.
Campos also claimed that 30% of Aim listings “were gone within a year”. The LSE hit back with the fact that since the beginning of last year the number of US companies on Aim “has almost doubled to 60”, moving on to say, “It is therefore surprising that Mr Campos should make comments that are so entirely wrong”. Campos really should do his homework first..!
These comments are really very frustrating. These people quite clearly don’t have a clue about Aim, and are also pretty put-out that companies are shunning the US in favour of London.
The latest company to flee the US arrived in London on Friday – Vycon was founded five years ago and make high speed fly wheel- based energy storage systems.
SEC chairman Christopher Cox declined to comment on Campos’ remarks saying he hadn’t seen them yet. They are actually likely to come as a huge embarrassment for Cox who has repeatedly tried to smooth the relationship between the UK and US.
The actual failure rate of companies that list on Aim is about 3%. This is roughly in line with the main market – where the jurisdiction is a great deal tougher.
The number of companies on Aim has risen from 121 in 1995 to 1,622 last year – more than on the main market. In fact over the last decade 83 companies have made their debut on the main market, while 161 have moved from the main market onto Aim.
So stick that in your pipe, Mr Campos…
Until tomorrow,
Melissa Carroll
for The Penny Sleuth
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