JP Jenkins Founded
JP Jenkins was founded and established the original OFEX market in the UK to facilitate trading for private and unquoted companies. Notable companies included Weetabix, Arsenal Football Club, Shepherd Neame and NCP. The market was trading over £1bn per annum and supported 500+ companies until the launch of AIM.
OFEX Officially Launched
When the London Stock Exchange launched the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), many smaller companies were unable to meet the new requirements. John Jenkins created OFEX as a separate market, named "Off Exchange" at the LSE's request, providing a cost-effective platform for smaller companies.
Market Evolution
The OFEX market underwent significant changes during a refinancing. The market would eventually be rebranded as ISDX and later transitioned to become what is now AQUIS. The sole broker arm, JP Jenkins, was sold and became part of a corporate finance firm.
New Beginning
A new entity, J P Jenkins Limited, was incorporated to continue the legacy of providing liquidity solutions for privately held businesses in the UK market.
Vision Renewed
A new team came together with the idea to support growth companies in the UK once again. The capital markets were struggling for smaller cap listed companies with 80+ businesses delisting each year since 2007.
Digital Transformation
The JP Jenkins brand was acquired by InfinitX, a technology company, which enhanced the private markets by offering electronic trading across all UK brokers and CREST settlement. At this time, all trading in the private market was done manually via order collection and matching.
European First
JP Jenkins became the first private market in Europe to go live with fully automatic trading, allowing for orders to be matched and executed automatically without manual interference or delays.
PISCES Authorisation
JP Jenkins received direct authorisation from the FCA to operate a Private Intermittent Securities Capital Exchange System (PISCES) market, becoming the second operator in the United Kingdom. PISCES offers a stamp duty-exempt and regulated environment for secondary liquidity in private company shares.
Dual Trading Environments
JP Jenkins now offers two trading environments: the traditional Matched Bargain Facility and the Private Market which operates under the PISCES framework. We have supported 80+ companies, thousands of shareholders, and traded well over £100m in recent years.
