Cees Vermaas, CEO of The International Stock Exchange (TISE), explores how the launch of TISE Private Markets represents a significant innovation for the business during its 25^th anniversary year.

Having spent 20 years working internationally for global stock exchange groups, it was just over three years ago I arrived in the Channel Islands to lead The International Stock Exchange (TISE).

Very quickly I realised that the islands offer a very special environment which make them fantastic places to both live and work: there are great opportunities provided by the sea, the beaches and the cliff paths; combined with a culture of hard work and ingenuity in servicing an international financial services client base.

I am hugely enjoying my time living and working in these islands and I am delighted with how we are continuing to build on prior successes by making significant progress in executing our strategy to diversify and scale up the business.

As we celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the Exchange opening for business, it is an opportune time to reflect on our heritage while also looking at how we are innovating to secure successful growth in the future.

Building the foundations

The founding of the Exchange in 1998 was a milestone in the evolution of the financial services industry in the Channel Islands. A culture of responsiveness and innovation during the last quarter of a century has helped build a business which today employs nearly 40 staff operating across five international finance centres.

"TISE is a leading venue for listing equity and debt, and we are best known as a major European bond market."

TISE is a leading venue for listing equity and debt, and we are best known as a major European bond market. Our operations in the islands are also supported by our Members, including law firms, administrators and corporate service providers in Guernsey and Jersey, who facilitate listings on the public market.

Launching a private market 

Utilising our expertise and technology from operating a public market over 25 years, we have now launched a new private market offering, TISE Private Markets. This unique service provides private companies with the ability to operate their own market through a series of tailored, integrated electronic trading, settlement and registry management solutions.

"Utilising our expertise and technology from operating a public market over 25 years, we have now launched a new private market offering, TISE Private Markets."

TISE Private Markets enables unquoted companies and their shareholders to have the benefits of a more efficient mechanism for share trading without the cost, administrative burden and loss of control associated with being publicly listed.

This really is a huge innovation in private markets.

The first private market client

I am delighted that our first client for this new service is Blue Diamond Limited.

Originally founded in Guernsey in 1904 as the Fruit Export Company, today Blue Diamond remains a locally owned and managed company, operating 44 garden centres across the UK and the Channel Islands, including Le Friquet Garden Centre in Guernsey and St Peter’s Garden Centre in Jersey.

"I am delighted that our first client for this new service is Blue Diamond Limited."

Having joined TISE Private Markets, Blue Diamond has access to a bespoke auction model which concentrates liquidity, a tailored auction algorithm to protect pre-emption rights, seamless electronic settlement of cash and shares, and online tools for the convenient management of share transfers and shareholder records.

The future

Blue Diamond’s utilisation of our service has generated significant interest in TISE Private Markets from other companies who are in a similar position of being privately owned or are currently quoted on public markets but wish to return to a private ownership model.

We are speaking to several interested parties in the Channel Islands and the UK, and I would be very pleased to speak to anyone, no matter whether they are based closer to home or further afield, who leads, advises, or has a shareholding in a company and might wish to learn more about our new service.

TISE Private Markets represents a significant innovation in the Exchange’s 25-year history and for the ecosystem of private structures it serves. It also provides us with the opportunity to develop additional services which are adjacent to the TISE Private Markets proposition, but which will provide further diversification in the range of products which we offer and breadth of clients which we service in the coming 25 years.

This article was originally published in Business Brief, November 2023