A variety of rumors have been floated about the London AIM (alternative investment market). Two of the most erroneous are that it's where stocks go to get listed when the American markets won't have them, and that getting listed on the AIM is a breeze compared with the procedures for getting listed on American exchanges. "There used to be suspicions about why a North American company with no international operations would want to get listed on the AIM," says one oil and gas investor. "But now the exchange is starting to realize its own potential and accepting that more North American companies are coming to it because it's simply a great opportunity. "Expansion capital is looking for a home and the AIM is a great way to get it." Randy Theilig, vice president and chief financial officer of Houston-based Frontera Resources, knows some of the hurdles of getting listed. Frontera is a 10-year-old international E&P company, and last year raised $88 million in its London AIM initial public offering. The company's core operations are in the country of Georgia. "Two years ago we wanted to raise $75- to $100 million to show that our assets were commercial," Theilig said at a seminar sponsored by law firm Haynes and Boone LLP recently in Houston. "But because of the perceived risk, there was no investment appetite on this side in Canada and the U.S. The London AIM was suggested as an alternative, and in it we found a distinct pool of investors that were comfortable investing in Georgia and in high-risk, high-yield projects. AIM was a great vehicle for us to get access to funding." For more on this, see the May issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.

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