The Alternative Securities Market (“ASeM” 0r the “Market”) was officially launched on April 23, 2013 and celebrates its 5th year in less than a month. We thought it best that the Market celebrates with a consideration of the advancement of its peers in a bid to spur it or any of its derivatives into greater exploits. We undertake a comparative review of its purpose and growth and those of its conceptual equivalents in London, Hong Kong and South Africa.
ASeM is a specialized board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (the “NSE”), established to encourage the listing of small and medium-sized companies with high growth potentials. It forms a part of the NSE’s initiative to develop a platform from which emerging businesses in Nigeria can access long-term capital. There is no limit to the amount of capital that companies listed on ASeM can raise from the public at less stringent conditions than is required to list on the Main or Premium Boards of the NSE. Given this background, one would readily expect that a fair percentage of the SMEs in Nigeria would be listed on ASeM. However, only 10 (ten) companies are currently listed on the ASeM Board. This dearth could be a result of several factors, which may include:
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