CISX Listings Jump 40% In 2011
Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Channel Islands Stock Exchange admitted almost 500 new securities to its Official List during 2011, an increase of 40% on the number listed in 2010.

Listings predominantly involved specialist debt structures, with Special Purpose Vehicles representing 58% of securities listed. The total number of securities admitted to the Official List at the end of December stood at 4,333.

In the closed ended sector, there were 50 securities admitted to the Official List and 13 of these were new funds domiciled predominantly within the Channel Islands. The remainder of the new admissions was in relation to new classes of existing structured funds.

Additional capital raised through further issues by Listed Issuers of closed-ended funds during the year amounted to GBP88.5m (USD135m), whilst SPVs raised a further GBP204.8m of additional capital.

Despite the fact that there are only a small number of traded securities on the Exchange, the Market Authority also reported that trading volumes were solid. There was trading activity in 23 securities with a total volume of 33.5m shares traded, representing turnover of GBP27.7m.

Tamara Menteshvili, the Exchange's Chief Executive, commented: “Given the prevailing economic conditions, these figures are extremely encouraging for the Exchange, particularly as the year ended with a flourish with 117 securities admitted to the official list in December. The amount of additional capital raised during the 12 months of nearly GBP300m is an impressive figure and clearly highlights one of the potential benefits of listing on the Exchange for Issuers.”

She added: “There continues to be an interest in the alternative funds sector and of note was a number of forestry and natural resource based funds in 2011. We also experienced renewed interest in the listing of funds targeting retail investors through the 139 open-ended funds listed in 2011. This perhaps suggests a move by some fund groups towards a more stable operating environment than those within the Eurozone.”

In closed-ended structures, the number of shares available is fixed, and designated at the time of offering, with share price depending on supply and demand between investors after the initial offering of shares. In contrast, the price at which shares in open-ended funds are traded varies depending on the net asset value of the fund, and therefore is directly tied to the fund's performance.