Japan: Tokyo AIM still seeks first listing

Exchange offers relaxed requirements; Risk-averse banks creating bottleneck

More than a year after its official launch, Tokyo AIM has not listed a single company, despite intensive pitching in Japan and worldwide. The exchange, set up as a joint venture between the London Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was designed to mimic London’s Alternative Investment Market in providing a venue for professionals to invest in growth companies with more relaxed listing requirements than on the main board.

Tokyo AIM received its licence from the ­Financial Services Agency in May 2009, and began operations on June 1 that year, but Japan’s depressed equities markets and the reluctance of any issuer to step forward as the first candidate for listing have left it floundering.

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