THIS will be a important year for Amarin and its bevy of Irish investors. The drug development company spun out of Elan raised $26.4m (€22.3m) just days before Christmas to fund what it hopes will be the final phase of trials for Miraxion, a drug that aims to treat Huntington’s disease. This should sate its appetite for cash over the next 12 to 18 months.

The company is chaired by Tom Lynch, Elan’s former finance chief who owns 18% of Amarin’s stock. Lynch and his fellow directors invested $4m between them in the latest funding round while Irish investors, including Dermot Desmond and John Climax of Icon, coughed up the same amount. Desmond’s IIU investment vehicle is believed to have increased its 13% stake during the investment round. The company now has a cash pile of $35m and is debt free.

Trials of Miraxion began last year in America and Europe. Lynch hopes to file a new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration in America and with European regulators in the first half of 2007.

Amarin is listed on Nasdaq, but is pondering a move to the Alternative Investment Market in London and Dublin’s IEX, a move that would please investors on this side of the Atlantic. It is currently based in London, with a large Irish following, but listed in America.

Betting on drug development companies is always risky, as we know only too well from Elan. Amarin, however, could be one of the better bets.

Unilever sticks

WHILE many were busy shopping for Christmas or recovering from the office party, the consumer-products group Unilever slipped out news about the long-running review of its dual listing.

After eight months of navel gazing — which no doubt cost shareholders millions in advisers’ fees — chairman Antony Burgmans concluded that the current structure worked very nicely, thank you, and it would probably be best if it did not change much.

Apparently, there are big tax advantages to having a listing in both London and Rotterdam — although nobody will explain what these are and Unilever’s average tax rate does not appear to be much lower than that of its rivals.

Patrick Cescau, chief executive, has certainly been busy since his appointment in April. He has slimmed down Unilever’s management structure, sold its perfume business and appointed a new head of marketing. And he has enjoyed something of a honeymoon period with the City and investors.

But fudging the restructuring of its archaic structure has angered some shareholders and will raise fears that Unilver is still resisting significant change.

AIM high

THE Yanks are coming.

Brokers in Britain expect to see a wave of American companies float on the Alternative Investment Market in 2006. The junior market is already home to more than 20 American firms, including DIC Entertainment, a television company, and Cosentino, a California wine producer. Numis, I hear, is working on a £100m (€145m) float.

So why are American companies turning their backs on the likes of Nasdaq and listing in London? Privately, brokers admit that the market’s more relaxed regulatory regime is the real attraction. Complying with America’s Sarbanes-Oxley Act is prohibitively expensive for small firms that are looking to raise money in the public markets.

AIM was designed to be a lightly regulated market for growing companies — allowing them to raise cash without the expense of floating on the main market. More than 20 Irish companies are listed there, including Smart Telecom, prompting the Irish Stock Exchange to set up the IEX.

The difficulty for investors and regulators is spotting the small number of firms that will abuse the more relaxed regime — particularly if the business is based 4,000 miles away.