Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) seeks to attract startups that present a proven business model and record exponential growth for at least three years. To this end, it has promoted BME Scale, a new market aimed mainly at facilitating the listing of ‘scale-ups’, that is, those that, in addition to meeting the aforementioned requirements, also invoice a minimum of one million euros or a minimum investment of that amount
With this market, BME expects to attract this business segment, which they normally do through ‘venture capital’, ‘business angels’ or participatory financing platforms. “Now, the financial markets will also be an option for these companies, which will also automatically access the pre-market environment programme”, explained the managing director of BME Growth, Jesús González-Nieto, at an informative breakfast to explain this project.
Specifically, BME explains that it is aimed at high-growth companies that register annualized growth rates of more than 20% for more than three years, with businesses that are beginning to consolidate and with high growth. Within the ‘scale-ups’, there are three types: the ‘scalers’, which invoice between one and ten million euros; the ‘growth’, which invoice between 10 and 50 million; and the ‘rockets’, which billed more than 50 million and whose growth is very fast. This new BME Scale market is thus aimed at the ‘scalers’ that bill the most and the ‘growth’ that enter the least.
Among the requirements to be part of this market are: being a public limited company, having a board of directors, being accompanied by an adviser registered in the market and publishing audited annual accounts. On the other hand, it will not be necessary to have a liquidity provider nor to comply with a minimum ‘free float’. BME also explains that an attempt has been made to simplify the informative document, in line with the European ‘Listing Act’ initiative, reducing the brochures to a maximum of 50 pages, as well as the capital increase documents or the legal and financial due diligence.
With this, the operator plans to reduce the “insurance” terms with respect to BME Growth, as well as lowering the cost of listing on BME Growth by a third, by not needing, for example, the liquidity provider. This new market, organized as a multilateral trading system and supported by BME’s trading and settlement technology, will also be open to other types of companies such as SMEs, Socimis or family businesses seeking a first contact with the capital markets is, even if the ‘free float’ requirements or other information requirements imposed by BME Growth are not met.
Regarding the investors it is targeting, BME explains that this market is intended mainly for specialized investors with the necessary knowledge of capital markets and who are aware of the greater risk involved in investing in this type of company, such as ‘venture capital’. ‘, ‘microcaps’ fund managers, private banking clients, ‘family office’ or ‘business angels’. The company has indicated that the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) authorized this market last week, after working on this project for more than a year. The regulations are published this Thursday and BME’s intention is to start having companies in the last quarter.
Regarding the possibility of BME Growth companies switching to Scale or preferring to list on the latter, the company explains that they will not be allowed in those cases in which Growth companies have the capacity and structure to meet the requirements of this market. possible, on the other hand, for those companies that, for example, have lost their ‘free float’ in the course of their listing. However, the market operator has stated that it will be considered “case by case”.
In addition, he has pointed out that he wants to create a “fast lane” so that Scale companies quickly move to Growth if they meet a series of requirements, such as having been listed for more than 18 months or meeting the ‘free float’ requirements. Regarding the possibility of cases like that of Gowex recurring, BME has ensured that there is always a reputational risk, in all markets, so the only way for this type of case not to occur is for the market to close. “With the dog dead, the rabies is over,” said González Nieto. “The fact that a company cheats worries us, but in all markets,” he added.
