A SCOTTISH accountancy firm is to invest in a relaunch of the country’s stock exchange after nearly 50 years.
Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (AAB), is supporting Project Heather which will be headquartered in Edinburgh with offices planned throughout Scotland.
Financial services entrepreneur Tomas Carruthers first unveiled plans for the exchange in December last year said he is targeting a go-live date in the second half of 2019.
In late 2018, Project Heather agreed a partnership with one of the world’s largest stock exchange platforms, Euronext, to run the exchange on its Optiq trading platform, which is being aimed mainly at companies worth between £50 million and £100m. AAB has a turnover of £22m and says it will be providing a “significant” sum for the new stock exchange.
It would be the first Scottish stock exchange since the closure of the trading floor in Glasgow in 1973.
That was a merger of exchanges in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Brian McMurray and Stuart Cooper of AAB worked with Carruthers and the Project Heather team in delivering fundraising advice, sourcing investors and securing the desired investment.
Douglas Martin, head of corporate finance at AAB, said: “We are delighted to have secured the investment for Project Heather which will help to re-establish the Scottish Stock Exchange after almost fifty years.
“Brian and Stuart have worked closely with Tomas and his team during this process and we look forward to continuing the relationship and supporting the launch of Project Heather later this year.”
Carruthers said: “Working closely with Anderson Anderson and Brown, securing this initial round of investment funding is enabling us to work on bringing a Scottish Stock Exchange to full fruition and launch in the second half of this year.
“We believe a stock exchange, built on the principles of raising capital to have a positive impact on society and the environment, will be a major contributor to sustainable economic growth both in Scotland and the UK as well as provide a destination for impact investors and issuers globally.”
Last year he said he hopes the renewables industry will see it as a place to raise funds while maintaining control and headquarters, rather than selling to a bigger company, or a dominant stake being sold to a private equity investment firm.
The business plan is to win public funds, and create around 60 skilled jobs.
These would be based in Edinburgh, with offices planned for Glasgow and Aberdeen.
The jobs would include marketing, to attract firms and investors into the market, and compliance. Stock exchanges need to police their rules to assure investors they can trust hat they are being told.
Carruthers’s main business
success was as founder and chief executive of Interactive Investor, an online trading platform created in 1997.
He was also appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron to run the Social Stock Exchange, for companies with a social mission, where he was chief executive from 2012 until last year.
Project Heather has received Financial Conduct Authority approval to launch the platform
AAB is one of the UK’s leading chartered accountancy and business advisory firms with offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London .
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