Although many US companies are aware of the advantages of raising money through a public offering on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), less publicity has been given to a simultaneous private placement in the US alongside a public offering on AIM.
Such simultaneous private placements can occur pursuant to available exemptions from the US registration requirements such as Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, or Rule 144A of the 1933 Act which permits the sale of unregistered securities in private placements to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBS). As long as the conditions of Regulation S, which permits offshore public offerings without registration under the 1933 Act are met and the conditions of Regulation D, or Rule 144A, as the case may be, are complied with, a public offering outside the US will not under-mine a contemporaneous private placement. Neither will the private placement, if properly conducted, undermine the offshore public offering.
