29.5bn raised through further issues on London Stock Exchange

Over £29.5 billion has been raised through further issues on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market and AIM during the first three months of 2009.

This was nearly fifteen times the total raised through further issues during the same period in 2008. Of this total, £2.0 billion was raised by international companies on both markets, and £560.7 million was raised by companies on AIM.

Tracey Pierce, Head of Equity Primary Markets at the London Stock Exchange Group, said: "These figures show that our markets have continued to perform a vital function in helping companies to raise equity finance. The capacity of the London markets to support this is partly due to a very high proportion of institutional investors, who develop long-term relationships with issuers, making it easier for companies both large and small to return to the market to access further capital.

"Compared with the previous quarter, increasing amounts of capital have been raised by a wide range of issuers across different sectors, going beyond the major global names. The total sum raised by further issues of £500 million or under in size on the Main Market and AIM has nearly quadrupled to £4.2 billion. On AIM alone the total raised was up by 84 per cent on the previous quarter."