The Irish Stock Exchange (Iseq) will launch its new small company market next month.

The Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX), which hopes to replicate the success of London's successful Alternative Investment Market (AIM), will start trading on April 12th.

The IEX will mirror the lighter regulatory touch of the AIM market, with reduced admission criteria, no requirement for a prior trading record, and no minimum requirement for the number of shares publicly floated.

The market will replace the existing Developing Companies Market and the Exploration Securities Market, which have struggled to attract new constituents or retain existing members in recent years.

The eight members of these two markets will transfer to the IEX.

Stock exchange sources are also confident that an Irish company currently planning an initial public offering will join both the IEX and the AIM markets, although no further details were available.

The Iseq hopes that the new market will encourage the 17 existing Irish constituents on the AIM market to seek dual listing in Dublin.

Companies joining the IEX will face almost identical requirements to securing an AIM listing. The one express difference is that IEX applicants will be required to have a minimum market capitalisation of €5 million.

The director of listings at the Iseq, Deirdre Somers, said the market cap threshold was designed to prevent shell companies undermining the credibility of the new market - and that it broadly reflected the impact of a number of AIM rules.

Stock exchange chief executive, Tom Healy, expects IEX to become the market of choice for smaller companies.

"IEX is designed specifically to meet the needs of small to mid-sized Irish companies seeking to access public markets," he said.

He said that the new market would "allow companies to enjoy all the benefits of a home market quotation while at the same time creating a streamlined admission process for those companies who might choose a joint quotation on IEX and AIM".