Alternative investment market (AIM)

The London stock market's junior market for small, fast-growing companies, launched in June 1995. Its progress to date has substantially exceeded expectations and at the end of November 2002, 698 companies were quoted on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) with a combined stock market value of £15.2 billion. The logic behind the AIM was to form a market with a minimum of regulation and spiced with tax breaks, thus creating a cheap means of raising risk capital for young companies. Since its launch, over 1,100 companies have had their shares listed on the AIM, raising over £12 billion in the process. Regulation is carried out by approved advisers rather than the exchange itself; and the information that companies have to supply is minimal as is the number of shares that have to be made available for trading.