2006 was a record year for Canadian companies listing on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange, with 13 new issues raising $425 million, according to a new study released today from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The year’s activity exceeded the previous record high set in 2004 in terms of both number of listing and money raised, which were 12 and $198 million, respectively. There were a total of 462 new admissions to AIM in 2006 raising the total number of companies to 1,634 at December 31, 2006.

“AIM was launched in 1995 and has quickly emerged as an international growth market,” says Ari Sahakian, a director with PwC’s transaction advisory group. “AIM has really caught the attention of Canadian companies in the last five years as the range of institutional investors has grown with all of the main UK institutions currently invested in AIM including a number of leading European and U.S. institutions.”

The 43 AIM-listed Canadian companies now represent approximately 14% of the 306 international companies listed on AIM, second only to Australia (16%). The leading industry sector for Canadian AIM listed companies by market capitalization is mining, but other sectors such as technology continue to grow. “Seven of the 13 Canadian companies that listed on AIM in 2006 were non-mining companies indicating the broader appeal of AIM in the Canadian marketplace,” says Sahakian.

“AIM offers an alterative to companies looking to raise capital to fund future growth and expand internationally. Given the recent activity in the Canadian market and the number of transactions in the pipeline, we expect to see more Canadian companies taking advantage of attractive valuation and financing opportunities combined with reduced regulatory compliance costs that AIM provides.”

In comparison to AIM activity, Canadian IPO activity on the TSX and TSX Venture exchange had a total 116 new issues worth $5.8 billion in 2006, off from the 119 new issues worth nearly $7 billion in 2005. There were 54 new IPOs with a value of $5.4 billion on the TSX in 2006 versus 74 offerings worth $6.8 billion in 2005.