30 SECOND GUIDE: ISDX

By DAILY MAIL CITY & FINANCE

Updated: 03:31 EST, 15 January 2013

Michael Spencer: Trading initiatives

The Daily Mail City team explains the new exchange for smaller businesses to raise capital.

What is it?

No, it is not the name of a new Australian pop group.

What then?

It is the new small midcap equity listings venue for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) seeking access to equity capital to finance and grow their business.

There are 133 companies quoted with an average value of £10m. They include Arsenal and brewer Shepherd Neame.

When was it launched and by whom?

City grandee Michael Spencer’s ICAP rescued London’s loss-making PLUS market from the knacker’s yard in June, taking control for a nominal £1.

Spencer then relaunched it under a new name, the ICAP Securities and Derivatives Exchange, or ISDX, in October.

Will it be better than PLUS?

Yes. Spencer is confident that new trading initiatives will ensure its success. They include provisions for increased liquidity to the market with the addition of two leading market-makers, Peel Hunt and Shore Capital, for making prices in ISDX’s largest stocks.

Is that all?

A website, isdx.com, provides real-time pricing information, news, account downloads and charting.

Imperative these days when stockmarkets and share prices can turn on a tanner, that’s sixpence in old money!