Circassia announces intention to float

6 February 2014

Imperial Innovations Group plc

Circassia announces intention to float

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, "Innovations", "the Group") is pleased to note that its largest portfolio company Circassia, has today announced its Intention to Float on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market.

Circassia is a clinical-stage specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of a range of immunotherapy products for the treatment of allergies such as cat, grass, house dust mite and ragweed. These product candidates were developed using Circassia's innovative technology, ToleroMune®, which was initially developed at Imperial College London

Innovations has led a number of funding rounds for Circassia since 2006. It is Innovations' largest investment representing approximately 25% of the portfolio by value. Innovations' equity stake in Circassia is currently 19.7%.

Russ Cummings, Chief Executive Officer, Imperial Innovations, said:

"Circassia is a great example of our business model in action, supporting UK science and research alongside this high calibre management team and Board.

"Circassia benefits from a strong group of existing investors and this listing creates an excellent opportunity to build a leading UK-based biopharmaceutical company which is addressing a substantial and growing international market.

"The announcement of Circassia's intention to float on the Main Market in London follows the recent NASDAQ IPO of Oxford Immunotec, illustrating the considerable strength in depth and maturing of our portfolio."

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Imperial Innovations - www.imperialinnovations.co.uk 

Since founding in 1986, Innovations has invested in the most promising technologies from our brightest scientists. Today it is connected with four of the world's top research universities: Imperial College London, Cambridge and Oxford Universities and University College London. These centres of scientific excellence between them have a research income of over £1.3 billion per annum. Innovations supports scientist-entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas. It adds value by leading the formation of new spin-out companies, providing investment, encouraging co-investment as well as through its operational expertise. It also runs an Incubator in London that is the initial home for many of its technology spin-outs.

Originally formed as the Technology Transfer office for Imperial College - a role it still carries out - Innovations is today a significant technology investor and has built a portfolio of around 90 companies. Almost £150m has been invested by Innovations and £0.5bn has been raised in total by the portfolio companies. In 2013, a £30 million loan facility was agreed with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for investment in biotech and therapeutics businesses.

Innovations invests in the most promising opportunities from whichever technology sector they arise and has built particular expertise in the key sectors of: Therapeutics, Medtech and devices, Engineering and materials and ICT.

This announcement is an advertisement and not a prospectus and investors should not subscribe for or purchase any shares referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information in the prospectus (the "Prospectus") to be published by Circassia in due course in connection with the offer of its ordinary shares (the "Shares") and the proposed admission of its Shares to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority ("Official List") and to trading on the main market for listed securities (the "Main Market") of the London Stock Exchange plc (the "London Stock Exchange"). Copies of the Prospectus will, following publication, be available from http://www.circassia.co.uk/, subject to applicable securities laws, and at the company's registered office.