The AIMkt (Alternative Investment Market - usually abbreviated
AIM) was launched in June 1995 with the aim of attracting a wide
range of new, small and growing companies. This market replaced the
USM (
IHTM18339), which closed at the end of
1996.
Shareholdings in AIM companies are regarded as "unlisted"
for (and only for) the purposes of business relief (
IHTM18333), loss on sale of shares (
IHTM34132) and instalments (
IHTM18334).
AIM shares have a listing on the SEDOL (
IHTM18092) and are usually valued in
the same way as listed shares.