The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has announced that its new AIM Rules for Companies (AIM Rules) and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers (Nomad Rules) will come into force on 30 March 2018.
In AIM Notice 50, the LSE sets out its feedback to the responses received during the consultation announced in AIM Notice 49 (December 2017) on its proposed rule changes. Subject to some minor amendments, the LSE will adopt the rule changes as proposed.
For background information on the consultation, read our article here.
What is changing?
The LSE is adopting the following key changes to the AIM Rules and Nomad Rules:
|
— |
|
Formalising the early notification process. Changes to AIM Rule 2 will require nominated advisers (Nomads) to submit an early notification to the LSE of an applicant's proposed admission. The exact timing of the initial communication will be left to the discretion of the Nomad but must be made as soon as reasonably practicable and, in any event, before the submission of the Schedule One information relating to the applicant. In AIM Notice 50, the LSE confirms that the process for considering the early notification information will be run in a similar manner to its current process for reviewing the Schedule One information. The new form of early notification is now available here on the LSE's website and will be effective from 30 March 2018. |
|
|
— |
Guidance on appropriateness of applicants. A new non-exhaustive list of factors is set out in Schedule Three to the Nomad Rules which a Nomad should consider when assessing an applicant's appropriateness for admission to trading on AIM. Further changes to AIM Rule 9 emphasise the LSE's discretion to refuse admission. |
|
— |
Corporate governance. AIM Rule 26 is amended to require an issuer to disclose on its website details of a recognised corporate governance code that its board has adopted. Additionally, the issuer must disclose how it has complied with that code or provide an explanation of its reasons for departing from the code. (Note that previously, an issuer was not required to comply with any corporate governance code but instead was obliged to disclose its corporate governance arrangements, whether or not they were set out in a particular code). This website disclosure must be reviewed annually and the date of the last review must also be disclosed. The implementation deadline for this new requirement is 28 September 2018 to give issuers adequate time to comply with the new rule. New applicants from 30 March 2018 will be required to state which corporate governance code that they intend to follow – but they will have until 28 September 2018 to fully comply with the new AIM Rule 26 requirements. |
|
New Rulebooks
Updated AIM Rules and Nomad Rules in clean and marked up versions are available to download here on the LSE's website.
