UK-based Pakistani firm to join London Stock Exchange

LONDON: A UK-based coal mining company headed by a Pakistani entrepreneur, planning to develop a 200 million pounds open-cast pit in Sindh, is expected to debut on AIM, a part of London Stock Exchange this week.Oracle Coalfields will complete its move from the Plus Market this Wednesday and will  have a value of 21.4 million pounds after a 3 pounds million fund raising.For companies, AIM is the London Stock Exchange’s international market for smaller growing companies. AIM is the most successful growth market in the world.Since its launch in 1995, over 3,000 companies from across the globe have chosen to join AIM which help smaller and growing companies raise the capital they need for expansion.The firm will use the money to conduct further work on in the Sindh Province, which holds an estimated 1.4billion tons of lignite, or brown coal.Oracle hopes to complete a feasibility study this year, before launching a further fund raising to bring the project into production by 2013.It believes there will be strong demand for the coal in Pakistan, which suffers regular blackouts due to electricity shortages. Oracle has signed a memorandum of understanding with local power firm KESC.The company chief executive Shahrukh Khan has worked on several large projects across South Asia, China and the Middle East. – APP