Bluelamp plc has grown from a company with £10,000 turnover to one with a £17m turnover and £1.8m profit in the last five years. The existing owners have put all their financial resources into the firm to enable it to grow. The directors wish to take advantage of a very exciting market opportunity but would need to find £20m of new equity capital as the balance sheet is already over-geared (i.e. has high debt). The options being discussed, in a rather uninformed way, are flotation on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, a flotation on the Alternative Investment Market and private equity. Write a report to enlighten the board on the merits and disadvantages of each of these three possibilities.