Britain's regulator says trading to start on private share platform this year
FILE PHOTO: A drone view of London's Canary Wharf financial district in London, Britain March 3, 2024. REUTERS/Yann Tessier/File photo
LONDON :Trading on Britain's new share platform for private companies can begin later this year, the financial watchdog said on Tuesday, after finalising rules for a market that regulators and the government hope will bolster the country's capital markets.
The Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) will enable trading of shares in private companies. The first shares should be traded on the platform this year through a "sandbox", which allows regulators to test how it works before they finalise a permanent regime in 2030, the Financial Conduct Authority said.
PISCES is designed to connect owners of fledgling unlisted companies who want to sell shares in their businesses with new investors keen to help those firms grow and scale up.
"The new platforms will give investors greater access and confidence to invest in exciting new companies, while early backers and employees can sell up and invest again," Simon Walls, the FCA's executive director of markets, said in a statement.
Emma Reynolds, the government's economic secretary to the Treasury, welcomed the announcement and said PISCES would boost UK capital markets and support economic growth.
Operators such as the London Stock Exchange wishing to run a PISCES platform will have to apply to the FCA. Once approved, they will be able to run intermittent trading events, at which company owners can offer stock for sale at regular intervals, at prices they set, to new shareholders.
PISCES could help small companies with limited experience of capital markets get on the radar of cash-rich and supportive investors, without undertaking a full-scale initial public offering.
The concept of PISCES, however, has proven a tough sell in some parts of the UK industry. Bankers told Reuters this year that they fear hits to revenues and ultimately being bypassed in a booming market for private capital.
Jack Shepherd, a partner with law firm CMS, said PISCES was an innovative attempt to revive the UK's capital markets.
"But the question remains whether PISCES addresses a genuine problem in the market, without cannibalising companies that might otherwise have sought a listing on the Main Market or AIM," Shepherd said, referring to Britain's small-cap market.
In response to feedback, the FCA said that, under its finalised rules it would, among other things, apply a 25 per cent threshold for identifying major shareholders, reduce the disclosure requirements for PISCES operators and companies, and give companies greater say over who can invest in them.
