Associated News (AN)

GXG Markets

In an announcement on July 22, 2015, Corporate Bully, GXG Markets UK, announced that they were selling the exchange to  The Channel Islands Securities Exchange Limited (CISE).

According to their press release:

“The Channel Islands Securities Exchange, based in St Peter Port, Guernsey, provides a listing facility and a market for companies to raise capital from international investors based on a bespoke trading platform. We aim to be a leading international securities exchange in the European time zone serving the interests both of Channel Islands’ business and of issuers of specialist debt, investment funds and other equity securities from around the world.”

In a previous article I have documented the overt lying, misrepresentation and bullying tactics of the GXG Markets. (Disciplinary matters: GXG, A corporate Bully)

Equally well documented by the GXG Markets’ own website and numerous complaining clients is GXG Markets’ continual failure to provide a liquid exchange for its participants from inception in 2011 through its demise in 2015. Many are the companies who spent in excess of £100,000 to be listed on the exchange and yearly fees to the GXG Markets in excess of £50,000 to no avail. Promises were never kept, liquidity for the many was never obtained. The GXG listed 176 companies. Even at a minimal listing fee of £6,000 and minimal first year listing fee of £6,000 that is £2,112,000. That is just for listing and first year fees – assuming a minimal fee. Many companies were listed for multiple years and paid higher fees. Where did this money go? What did companies get for these fees besides promises?

The GXG claims in its press release (but we already know they have overtly lied in previous press releases):

“Originally established in 1998 as a Danish Authorised Marketplace, GXG Markets operates a European Regulated Market. The market solution has been designed to provide SMEs with a more competitive market environment for raising capital and trading of its shares. Since its inception, more than £350 million worth of shares have been traded through its markets, with over £70 million raised by some 30 separate placings. In 2011, GXG opened its market to trading of companies outside of Denmark.”

Even if it were true, £350m over 3½ years is not an impressive statistic for an exchange.

However, is this, could this be another lie or misleading statement? After all I have fully documented false and misleading statements made by the GXG in a previous article (Disciplinary matters: GXG, A corporate Bully). Go to their delisted company page here where you will see some 109 delisted companies. An odd statistic considering there are only 67 companies listed at this time). Some of the companies were delisted for fraudulent activities – are these included in the £350 million worth of shares they quote? (Questus Capital, whom former employees at the GXG have told me was a complete scam, certainly would account for most of the 350 million). The bulk of the delisted companies are companies who were tired of paying fees to an exchange that did nothing for them. Don’t believe me? Call the companies yourself before someone at GXG/CISE gets wise to potential liability and takes the website down.

But since this documented corporate bully and perhaps even a corporate fraudster (yet to be documented) is essentially out of business, the question is now whether the CISE will take responsibility to right the wrongs created by Corporate Bully, GXG Markets, or will they continue the bullying tactics and/ or ignore the lying and deceitful actions of its predecessor?

We hope for the sake of the remaining companies who somehow survived the GXG, that CISE will be a stand up exchange. If they take responsibility for the misdeeds of the GXG Markets then we will know they are stand up. If they don’t, then we will know they are not.

Only time will tell, though. We will keep an eye on GXG Markets buyer, CISE.