Plus Markets considers closure
Plus Markets, the British stock exchange for small companies, said it planned to shut itself down after failing to attract an acceptable takeover offer.
The loss-making group, which put itself up for sale in February, has informed Britain’s financial regulator that it plans an “orderly closure” after suffering a drop in its cash reserves, it said on Monday.
“The regulated actives of the group will be wound down over a period of up to six months in order to minimise market disruption,” the company said in a statement.
Plus Markets said it would help the companies whose shares are traded on its exchange, including football club Arsenal and brewer Shepherd Neame, find “suitable alternative arrangements.”
Plus Markets, which also operates the Plus DX derivatives exchange, ended efforts to sell itself because talks with potential suitors did not result in a deliverable offer, it added.
Plus Markets grew out of Ofex, an exchange for British small cap stocks that required less regulation than the London Stock Exchange or AIM.
The company made a loss of £5.8m on revenue of £3m in 2010, its sixth consecutive loss-making year.