On 7 August 2015, the London Stock Exchange published AIM Notice 41 and its accompanying guidance on Regulation S, Category 3 Securities in Inside AIM as a result of the changes brought by the Central Securities and Depositories Regulation ("Regulation").

Rule 36 of the AIM Rules requires securities admitted to trading to be eligible for electronic settlement in CREST. However, derogations from this rule were given mainly to US securities, which were not eligible for electronic settlement, in order to facilitate their admission to the AIM. These securities were known as Regulation S, Category 3 securities.

Article 3(2) of the Regulation, which requires transactions in transferable securities that occur in trading venues (such as the AIM) to be settled electronically in a book entry form with a central securities depository, will make derogations from rule 36 unavailable for Regulation S, Category 3 securities. These changes are effective from 1 September 2015 and are already reflected in the AIM application form. However, they will be incorporated to the rules in its next update.

The AIM Notice 41 is available here:

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/companies-and-advisors/aim/advisers/aim-notices/aimnotice41.pdf

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