BKN looks to Maclays for advice on AIM listing

Maclay Murray & Spens has scooped an instruction to advise new client BKN International on its Alternative Investment Market (AIM) debut.

BKN, which produces children’s cartoons, is the first German company to get a secondary listing on AIM since the collapse of the NeurMarkt. It is also the first German company to use the fast-track entry rules introduced in May by the London Stock Exchange.

Maclays senior corporate associate Adam Fenner launched a dedicated fast-track team at the firm this June.

The fast-track rules enable smaller companies that are already listed on designated markets, including the Deutsche Börse, Nasdaq and Euronext, to list on AIM.
The group works alongside independent London-based investment bank Teather & Greenwood and the Munich office of Denver firm Holme Roberts & Owen to identify German companies that might want an AIM listing.

BKN was initially floated on the NeurMarkt, but since its closure BKN’s shares have been traded in the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The Maclays team was led by Fenner, while Lovells Frankfurt-based corporate partner Rainer Suessmann provided German law advice.

Suessmann said Lovells’ London office missed out on advising BKN on English law issues because its chargeout rate was too high for a deal of this size.

BKN will also raise additional funds on AIM. The company’s market capitalisation is presently around e17m (£11.9m).