In the past 18 months, the London Stock Exchange has attracted 152 international companies to its markets. Over the same period in America, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have attracted a combined total of 54 international companies. These figures are part of an important body of statistical data that confirms London’s lead over New York as a venue for international companies seeking to raise growth capital.
Confronted with these data, the response of some practitioners in the US market has been curious. Rather than consider what may be drawing companies to London, they have focused only on what may be repelling them from the US and, in so doing, they have singled out the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Sox) for special mention.
At one level, it has been suggested that international companies listing outside America want to avoid submitting themselves to the highest standards of regulation. As the head of one US exchange put it: “By setting the bar so high in the US, Sox has had the unintended consequence of triggering a ‘race to the bottom’ by stock markets and companies.”
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