Nordic plan to challenge Square Mile

A NORDIC rival to London’s AIM junior stock market is ramping up its campaign to snatch business away from the City.

The US-owned Nasdaq First North – which operates from Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Reykjavik – is striving to become Europe’s top listing destination for small businesses seeking to raise cash on the public markets.

It is a third the size of AIM, but First North is growing fast – and bosses hope to sweeten the deal by offering tax breaks to UK investors. Taxman HMRC has made it the first exchange outside the UK to be granted ‘growth market status’, meaning investors who back listed British firms will get exemptions. AIM, which has held the status since 2014, has raised more than £100bn of cash for firms, and hosts around 960 companies.

First North, by contrast, has just 300 businesses but has been growing rapidly. It has raised £1bn for businesses since the start of last year, and is winning increasingly large chunks of new business.

It has also been described as a Wild West arena which hosts international businesses run by shady figures from countries where the rule of law is less strong.