The JSE’s Alternative Exchange (AltX) has listed its fiftieth company since the board opened in October 2003.
The 50th company, engineering group William Tell Holdings, listed on the AltX on Tuesday.
Beige was the first company to list on the AltX late in January 2004.
Since the AltX’s first listing, there have been 10 listings in 2004, seven in 2005, 23 in 2006 and so far 10 in 2007.
According to Noah Greenhill, head of marketing and business development at the JSE: “We have said initially that three interdependent aspects are needed for a successful market: number of companies, market capitalisation and liquidity. AltX has exceeded the JSE’s expectations in all three areas. The board now has a market cap of approximately R17-billion.”
Greenhill believes the success of the market is due to quality controls.
“Our initial strategy was to ensure that this was a quality market. To make this possible we made sure that companies had to be recommended by the AltX advisory committee comprised of market experts, that company directors have to attend a directors induction programme to ensure good governance and the companies needed full-time designated advisors to ensure compliance with the listing requirements.”
The board has also started to see appetite from foreign companies to dual list on AltX. This is on account of the marginal cost and maximum value proposition, according to Greenhill. – I-Net Bridge