£5.5m injection boosts upstart Plus
PLUS Markets Group, which runs a junior stock exchange to rival the LSE’s Aim, is expanding after securing a cash injection from the Middle East.
The Amara Dhari Investments syndicate is to take a 19 per cent stake in the company, raising up to £5.5million initially and as much as £8.4million.
Plus will use the deal to promote itself in the region as it steps up competition to Aim. Plus has just begun trading all 1,500 Aim-listed shares, breaking the LSE’s stranglehold.
Confusingly, Plus is itself listed on Aim and is headed by chief executive Simon Brickles, a former Aim boss.
He said: “This capital-raising initiative substantially strengthens our balance sheet during these sensitive times.”