People: Plain speaking from Frank
South African entrepreneur and AIM player Frank Lewis has some urgent advice for financial professionals bringing foreign companies to London’s junior stockmarket. As he himself prepares to participate in a proposed Chinese mining float on AIM, Lewis warns ‘there are very big cultural issues’ to tackle in most such issues.
‘I’ve listed lots of companies on AIM,’ he recalls, and argues nominated advisers should as a preliminary prepare case
studies for their clients. ‘Companies must be made to understand the need to be open and transparent.’
Among Lewis’s less happy ventures was China Evoline, floated in 2007 as ZTC Communications, a mobile phone handset maker in South China. Problems arose when its former boss and majority shareholder and his brother-in-law, head of the company’s China operating arm, went missing after pledging ZTC shares as collateral for a personal loan.
Hoped-for acquisitions never materialised and Lewis had the company de-listed and then wound up in January. Lewis declares, ‘It was the best thing I could have done.’
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