COMMENT
Exciting Times For Investors

Have you ever heard of Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) or Hikma Pharmaceutical (LSE: HIK)? They are hardly names that roll off the tongue right now, but they may do soon. Khazakstan copper miner Kazakhmys is set to join the FTSE 100 index this month while the Jordanian pharmaceutical outfit Hikma may shortly make its debut in the FTSE 250.

It seems that gone are the days when simply being Anglo-Swedish, like AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN), was considered exotic. These days, you need to be incorporated in Gibraltar such as online casino 888 Holdings (LSE: 888), or based in New Zealand like IT outfit Endace (LSE: EDA), to cause heads to turn.

For investors who enjoy the more unusual, there's also Jumpit (LSE: JUM), the first Norwegian company to join AIM, and Bateman Engineering (LSE: BTE), which is the only Dutch company on the same market. And away from Europe, there's Bank Muscat (LSE: BKM), the first company from the Sultanate of Oman to list in the UK. Lots of Chinese companies that were featured in this article are now quoted on the London market too. These include EBT Mobile Mobile (LSE: EBT) and Asian Citrus Holdings (LSE: ACHL), which were suggested as possible plays on the expanding Chinese economy.

Interestingly, the international flavour of the London stock market is expected to accelerate as bankers predict a raft of Russian flotations over the next three years. These include oil giant Rosneft, aluminium producer Rusal, and Gazprom Bank, which is the financial offshoot of Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom. Another Russian company that is lining up a flotation ahead of Russia's 2008 presidential election is Vneshtorg Bank.

However, the surge in foreign-listed companies in the UK can be seen as both a blessing and a curse for UK investors. On the plus side, it means that investors can easily buy shares in foreign companies that were once quite inaccessible. But even if you don't deliberately set out to invest in foreign companies, funds that track the market will be forced to buy the shares anyway. For instance, Kazakhmys, which boasts a valuation of £3b, will the 88th largest company on the stock market and so will feature in most FTSE trackers (but with a reduced weighting due to the fact that only a fraction of its shares are publicly traded).

An often asked question is why are foreign companies keen on floating on the London stock market. Perhaps the main reason is that a London listing tends to be less onerous than listing on the US markets. In America, companies are now required to comply with the burdensome financial disclosure legislation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which can be both costly and time consuming.

But the lighter approach adopted by the UK listing authority also means that investors need to tread with greater care. Many of these companies are considerably more difficult to follow than established UK companies. Additionally, we should also be aware that countries such as Russia, Jordan and China may be less politically stable.

That said these are likely to be exciting times for investors. I am certainly looking forward to delving into some of these companies. Indeed, one of the above companies will be examined next week in the latest update of our Champion Shares investing service. Sign up here for more details.