12th Jun 2007 07:02
Modern Water PLC12 June 2007 Modern Water plc ("Modern Water", the "Group" or the "Company") FIRST DAY OF DEALING & ADMISSION TO TRADING ON AIM Modern Water, a company established to source, develop and deploytechnology-based solutions to meet the growing demand for the economicavailability of fresh water and treatment of waste water, is pleased to announcethe commencement of trading in its shares on AIM today under the ticker symbolMWG. Modern Water has raised £30 million (before expenses) through a placing with UKinstitutional and other investors, at the placing price of 119p per ordinaryshare of 0.25p each ("Ordinary Shares") (the "Placing"), valuing the Company at£70 million on admission. The Placing met with encouraging demand and wasover-subscribed. The non executive directors of Modern Water have togethersubscribed for £445,000 of Ordinary Shares in the Placing. KBC Peel Hunt Ltd is acting as Nominated Adviser and Broker to Modern Water. Neil McDougall, Executive Chairman of Modern Water plc said: "Modern Water is firmly positioned at the heart of one of the most importantissues which the modern world has to face. The demand for fresh water isincreasing inexorably and existing supplies are limited. Modern Water'stechnology can help improve this imbalance substantially, and our listing on AIMtoday is a further step in the plans we have to deliver a lasting solution tothis severe problem." Key Points The Company's objective is to create value for shareholders through theacquisition of assets through which the Group's technologies can be deployed andthe licensing and sale of its water related technologies to third parties. The Group currently has access to two core technologies which are the subject ofpatent applications: • desalination technology which aims to reduce the cost of desalinating sea water as it requires less energy and lower capital expenditure than conventional desalination processes; and • technology to allow sea water based domestic waste water to be treated to a sufficient quality to meet European Waste Water Standards. The principal components of the Group's business model are: - BOOT projects - to acquire ownership and/or management of water projects that can be fitted with the Group's technologies to reduce capital and operating costs of those assets and, in particular, reduce energy consumption; and - intellectual property - to acquire and invest in water-related technologies complimentary to those already owned by the Group and which have the potential to be developed through to commercial operation. The reasons for the IPO and use of proceeds include: - acquisition of existing contracts/companies where the Company can improve the project economics through deployment of its technology; - further development, investment in existing technologies and acquisition/licensing of new technologies from the Group's current pipeline; and - funding the Company's ongoing working capital requirements including the recruitment of up to 20 employees in the next 18 months, primarily focussed on business development and research and product development. Placing Statistics Placing Price 119pNumber of Placing Shares 25,210,085Number of Ordinary Shares in issue on Admission 58,862,685Capitalisation at the Placing Price £70 millionGross proceeds of the Placing £30 millionEstimated net proceeds of the Placing £28.6 millionPlacing Shares as a percentage of the Enlarged Share Capital 42.8% Ends For further information, please contact: Modern Water plcNeil McDougall 07740 930 303 HeadLand ConsultancyHoward Lee, Tom Gough 020 7367 5228 KBC Peel Hunt LtdJonathan Marren, Oliver Stratton 020 7418 8900 www.modernwater.co.uk Notes to editors The Company has been established to source, develop and deploy technology-basedsolutions to meet the growing demand for the economic availability of freshwater and treatment of waste water. Less than one per cent. of the water onEarth is available for consumption. As fresh water is a finite resource and, aspopulation grows, many parts of the world are experiencing an increasing watercrisis. In the developing world, it is estimated that 2.6 billion people(approximately two fifths of the world's population) do not have access toadequate sanitation. In these areas approximately 2.2 million people die fromdiseases associated with poor water quality and sanitation every year. The Group is initially concentrating on two distinct approaches to the watermarket being: (i) desalination; and (ii) the substitution of fresh water withsea water or recycled water for certain non-potable uses. The Group's strategyis to acquire key stakes in appropriate technologies within these areas and todate has made investments in Surrey Aquatechnology Limited and Poseidon WaterLimited. The Group also has an investment in Cymtox Limited. Surrey Aquatechnology Limited Surrey Aqua is developing processes for the osmotic treatment of water whichinclude the desalination of seawater for potable water, the treatment of waterproduced from the desalination process and the preparation of water forre-injection for use in the oil industry. The Group's initial focus for SurreyAqua's intellectual property will be on its manipulated osmosis technology andits application in the desalination of brackish water and sea water. Manipulatedosmosis technology is suitable to be used in the construction of new andintegrated into existing thermal desalination and reverse osmosis desalinationplants, reducing the capital costs, the footprint and the operating costs ofsuch plants. Poseidon Water Limited PWL's sewage treatment process is designed to be used on waste water based oneither just seawater or a mixture of fresh water and sea water. Conventionalwaste water sewage treatment processes predominantly treat waste water basedsolely on fresh or potable water. Where they are based on a combination of freshwater and sea water or just sea water, performance is significantly compromisedand they have limited effectiveness. As toilet flushing uses approximately 30per cent. of all domestic water usage, implementing PWL's water treatmentprocess can significantly reduce the levels of fresh water required. Cymtox Limited Cymtox exploits a new technology that monitors water toxicity on a continuous,real time basis. It checks a wide range of toxicity and warns of suspiciouschanges. The core technology is based on the well established science ofbioluminescence. Modern Water's Board of Directors Neil McDougall (45), Executive Chairman Neil was appointed as Executive Chairman of the Company on 1 December 2006 andas Chairman of Surrey Aqua on 29 November 2006. Neil was previously anindependent investor and advisor to various private equity groups and financialinstitutions. Prior to that, he was Executive and Deputy Chairman of Swan Groupplc (the holding company for Mid Kent Water plc) from 2001 to 2004. Neil wasalso Chairman and CEO of Biwater Capital Limited (a subsidiary of Biwater plc)from 1996 to 2001. In partnership with the University of Surrey and Oxfam, Neilis currently developing water testing equipment for the developing world on acharitable basis. He is also a Director of Delagua Water Testing Limited. Neilis a chartered accountant. Simon Humphrey (40), Chief Executive Officer and Finance Director Simon was appointed as CEO of the Company on 1 December 2006, and as a Directorof each of PWL and Cymtox on 14 December 2006. Simon was previously aninvestment manager at Laing O'Rourke Portfolio Solutions Limited and was aDirector of Glen Water Limited a 50/50 joint venture between Laing O'RourkePortfolio Solutions Limited and Thames Water Services Limited. Previously, heworked as an investment director at two water industry companies, Spring Capitaland Cascal BV. From 1990 to 1999 Simon worked at various Biwater plc companiesin a variety of financial and project based roles both in the UK andinternationally. Simon is a chartered management accountant and will beresponsible for the finances of the Company (which are currently provided by IPGroup) in his dual role as chief executive officer and finance director. Dr Gerald Jones (56), Chief Scientific Officer Gerald was appointed as a Director of the Company on 1 December 2006 and PWL andCymtox on 14 December 2006. Gerald is currently the principal consultant forBusiness Strategy and Innovation at WRc plc, where he has worked in a variety ofroles since 1980, including Group Marketing Manager. Gerald specialises ininnovation, international marketing and business development and is also afounding Director and investor of Cynnovation Limited, a spin out company fromWRc plc. Michael Gradon (48), Senior Independent Non-Executive Director Michael is a senior executive with over twenty five years' experience inhigh-level commercial, management and legal positions. Until its takeover byDubai Ports World in 2006, he spent 20 years at The Peninsular and OrientalSteam Navigation Company ("P&O") including 8 years on the main board. ACambridge law graduate and qualified lawyer, he joined P&O initially as acorporate lawyer before moving into a number of general management roles and wasappointed to the P&O Board in 1998, at the time one of the youngest executiveDirectors on the main board of a FTSE 100 company. Michael has held executive positions covering a wide range of managementexperience including executive P&L responsibility for property, infrastructureand leisure businesses, crisis and risk management, managing relationships withthe Board and shareholders, multiple contract/commercial negotiations, andhandling Board-level personnel matters. Paul Shepherd CBE DL (62), Non-Executive Director Paul is a chartered engineer with extensive experience in the construction andengineering industry both in the UK and overseas. Until 2001 Paul was Chairmanand Group Managing Director of Shepherd Building Group, one of the UK's largestprivate construction, engineering and manufacturing groups which operated in 90countries. He is a past Chairman of the Construction Confederation, a pastPresident of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), and was a member of theEconomic Affairs Committee of the CBI from 1995 to 2003. He is a Fellow of theInstitute of Civil Engineers and the Chartered Institute of Building ServicesEngineers. Paul is currently a Non-Executive Director of the FT Construction Group andsubsidiaries, Chairman of the International Board of the CIOB, a member of theCourt of York University and a Deputy Lieutenant for North Yorkshire. He wasawarded a CBE in 1999 for services to the UK construction industry. Trevor Jones (61), Non-Executive Director Trevor is a mechanical engineer with considerable managerial experience across arange of industries. He has wide experience in the water industry with ThamesWater, the world's third largest water services company. Trevor was managingdirector of Thames Water's non regulated business during which he was Chairmanof the Metronet Consortium that won two thirds of the London Underground PPP.Following that he was managing director for all Thames Water's businesses in UKand Ireland which included Thames Water Utilities Limited, the largest water andwaste water utility in the UK. Trevor also has extensive experience in the international water market havingbeen Chairman of Thames Water International, a portfolio of companies andprojects in ten countries in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Australia. Mike Townend (44), Non-Executive Director Mike is director of Capital Markets at IP Group. He has 17 years experience inall aspects of equity capital markets and was formerly at Lehman Brothers wherehe was Managing Director, European Equities and Head of Equity Sales to HedgeFunds. In this role, where he was jointly responsible for the equity salesoperation at Lehman Brothers, Mike focussed particularly on hedge funds andalternative asset managers and was responsible for building and maintainingmulti-strategy and asset class relationships with institutional investors andprominent alternative asset managers. Prior to that, Mike was an ExecutiveDirector at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette ("DLJ") where he was recruited tobuild up business with hedge funds as a key element of DLJ'S European start upstrategy. He has a further eight years equity sales experience at Banque Paribasand BG Bank where he was Head of Equity Sales. In addition, Mike has extensiveexperience of raising capital, having recently completed a number of privatecompany fundings including one in the intellectual property arena, ImprimaturCapital. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
MWG.L