SOME of Ireland's biggest institutional investors will consider investing in Irish start up companies, particularly those seeking a listing on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
This is likely to have a major impact on the Irish corporate market as more companies may be persuaded to seek a listing on AIM or the Irish Stock Exchange's nascent Developing Companies Market rather than on the US Nasdaq market, analysts say.
The institutional investors also replied to the Irish telecommunications group, Stentor, which criticised the lack of Irish institutional involvement in its recent float.
Top fund managers at Friends Provident, Scottish Provident and Standard Life - three of the six biggest fund managers in the country - claim they were never approached to invest in the company and would have considered investing if approached.
Mr Pramit Ghose, chief investment manager at Friends Provident in Dublin, said it was "unbelievable" for the company to castigate the lack of Irish involvement when it had ignored - such an important section of it.
Mr Des Doran, Irish fund manager at Standard Life agreed. "This makes me very cross," he said. "We have a reputation for supporting unlisted companies and have not been approached by any company going to AIM."
A Stentor director, Mr Patrick Cruise O'Brien, said the initial feedback from the Irish market had been that Stentor was not suitable.
"We'd love to talk to them," he said. "It is very good news that huge fund managers like these are willing to invest in start ups. If we had known, they were interested we would certainly have approached them."
