Several stock market operators who specialise in cash shells, including shellmeister Mike Edelson, are bringing such vehicles to OFEX.

Edelson, behind some highly speculative investment companies at the height of the dotcom boom, hopes to raise £1.7 million for Oak Prospects through an offer arranged by John East & Partners. Original investors will retain a third of the shares.

Oak plans to acquire a business in the leisure or entertainment sector. Trading will start on 9 November. Once a deal is found, the enlarged entity may move to AIM.

Edelson’s move follows the recent arrival on OFEX of Aspartus, a shell aiming to invest in European environmental-based businesses, led by Leo Knifton and Nigel Weller. This duo brought three shells to AIM earlier this year.

Aspartus raised just £50,000, but is valued at £1.6 million. The outfit’s broker is Alfred Henry Corporate Finance, run by Knifton and Weller.

And at the end of September fellow shell veterans Stephen Dean and Vince Nicholls brought Firenze Ventures to OFEX through a £350,000 placing sponsored by City Financial Associates.

This flurry of activity follows April’s changes to the AIM rules on investment companies, which state that such concerns must raise at least £3 million cash on admission.

Also rumoured to be bringing a shell to OFEX is Chris Potts, the former Evolution market maker who resigned from the broker after shenanigans surrounding AIM shell Azure Holdings, formerly called Room Service. Potts, who was fined by the FSA, currently works as a consultant to public relations outfit Hansard.