Companies have raised a record £27.9 billion through IPOs on the London Stock Exchange’s markets during 2006, with IPO fundraising by companies up 71 per cent on 2005. By the end of November, the total money raised by IPOs on the London Stock Exchange had already reached £25.8 billion. This exceeded the £18.4 billion raised during the same period through IPOs on NYSE and the £19.3 billion raised on the Hong Kong Exchange for the same period. In the period to the end of October 2006 (the latest figures available), £6.7 billion was raised through IPOs on Nasdaq.



The Exchange’s Main Market and AIM attracted IPOs from a total of 346 companies during 2006. By the end of November there had been 319 IPOs on the London Stock Exchange, exceeding the 274 IPOs carried out on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and Hong Kong Exchange combined and exceeding the 274 IPOs on the rest of Western Europe’s exchanges by 16 per cent.

During the year, the Exchange attracted 99 international IPOs from companies incorporated in 25 countries. Between them, these international companies raised £13.0 billion on the Exchange’s markets, of which £2.7 billion was raised on AIM.

Total money raised, which includes money raised through further issues, was similarly impressive during 2006. During the year, companies raised a record £49.5 billion in new and further issues, of which £35.3 billion was raised on the Main Market and Professional Securities Market, and £14.2 billion was raised on AIM.

Martin Graham, Director of Markets at the London Stock Exchange, said:

“2006 has been another immensely strong year for London’s primary markets, demonstrating that London has consolidated its position as the market of choice for international issuers.

“We’re very proud that companies from the UK and 25 countries around the world, from 36 sectors and with market capitalisations ranging from £5 billion to under £5 million, have been able to use our markets to access London’s deep pools of capital, and we look forward to helping more companies to fund the growth of their businesses next year.”

2006 Primary Market Highlights

Main Market and Professional Securities Market

-109 companies joined the Main Market and Professional Securities Market in 2006, of which 85 were IPOs;

-Companies raised a total of £19.3 billion through IPOs on the Main Market and Professional Securities Market, 81 per cent more than the total raised during 2005;

-There were 27 international IPOs on the Main Market and Professional Securities Market during the year, raising £10.3 billion;

-In February, Lotte Shopping became the second Korean company to dual-list in London and Seoul, raising £1.6 billion;

-The first privatisation of a UK company through an IPO in over ten years took place in February, when the IPO of Qinetiq raised £150 million;

-Napo Pharmaceutical’s IPO in July was the first by any US company to take place solely on London’s Main Market, raising £9.5 million;

-MCB Bank issued Global Depositary Receipts on the Professional Securities Market in October, raising £79.1 million and becoming the first Pakistani company to join the Exchange’s markets.

AIM

-432 companies joined AIM in 2006, raising a record £9.1 billion in new issues;

-Of these new issues, 261 were IPOs, raising a record total of £8.6 billion between them;

-2006 was also a record year for international IPOs on AIM, with 72 international companies joining the market, raising £2.7 billion between them;

-33 new companies based in Western Europe (excluding UK) joined AIM this year, raising just over £1 billion between them;

-21 new companies based in the USA joined AIM this year, raising in excess of £563.1 million between them;

During 2006 AIM welcomed 26 new companies based in China and seven companies based in India.