15th Dec 2006 07:58
IP Group PLC15 December 2006 For immediate release 15 December 2006 IP Group launches Modern Water Ltd IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group"), the intellectual propertycommercialisation company, is delighted to announce the launch of a newsubsidiary, Modern Water Limited ("Modern Water" or "the Company"), to establishand exploit a portfolio of water technologies to address the global problems ofeconomic availability of fresh water and the treatment and disposal of wastewater. The creation of Modern Water forms an integral part of IP Group's strategy ofestablishing businesses, run by specialist management teams, to addressparticular issues affecting the global economy through the creation andmanagement of a portfolio of intellectual-property based investments. ModernWater, which is building a portfolio of intellectual property based novel 'watersolutions', is headed by Executive Chairman Neil McDougall, one of the mostexperienced water-industry experts with an impressive track record in thissector. Simon Humphrey, who has over 16 years experience in the sector, is ChiefExecutive Officer of Modern Water. IP Group and Modern Water's management team have committed £2.2 million in cashto Modern Water, and are delighted to announce that Modern Water has invested£1.0 million of this commitment in three exciting water-related technologies.These include an innovative and potentially cost-saving desalination process, atechnology that continuously measures acute water toxicity and a patentedprocess for flushing toilets with seawater rather than freshwater. Modern Wateris actively seeking further opportunities. Modern Water is the second subsidiary that IP Group has created to addressissues of global importance, having launched Modern Biosciences in 2005 toaddress the problem of poor product pipeline within major pharmaceuticalcompanies. IP Group has a 67.7% stake in Modern Water. Modern Water's portfolio Modern Water has taken a 30.0% stake in Surrey Aqua Technologies Limited ("Surrey Aqua"), a spin-out from the University of Surrey. Surrey Aqua has developed a unique 'reverse osmosis' process to purify saltwater that has significantly lower costs, using less energy. It is based ontechnology developed at the Centre for Osmosis Research & Applications (CORA),University of Surrey. Dr Adel Sharif, Founder and Director of CORA, won the 2005 Royal Society BrianMercer Senior Award for innovations for his work on novel applications ofManipulated Osmosis in desalination and water treatment processes as well as aDTI Smart Award (Small Merit Award) for Research and Technology. Surrey AquaTechnologies is currently in negotiations with major blue chip companies andorganisations to licence its technology. Modern Water has a 16.6% stake in CYMTOX Limited ("CYMTOX"), a Cardiff-basedbusiness which has a new water technology that monitors acute water toxicity ona continuous, real time basis. The CYMTOX technology is a water monitoring device that acts like a 'modern daycanary', constantly checking a very wide range of toxicity and warning of anysuspicious changes. It is capable of being fully automated and taking specificcomputer controlled actions. The core technology, which is based on the verywell established science of bioluminescence, is in the process of being fullypatented. The technology has been proven to identify 1/1000th of a lethal doseof cynaide in water in just 3 seconds compared to currently available productsthat detect in 15-120 minutes. CYMTOX's target markets are major sensitive customers who have a strong need forconfident protection against contaminated water including drinks and foodmanufacturers, water treatment, supply and particularly distribution systemsthrough to the 'tap' and water sources (boreholes, rivers and reservoirs). Modern Water also has a 51.0% stake in Poseidon Water Limited ("Poseidon"), aSouth Wales-based company which has pioneered the 'Poseidon Water System'process to enable toilets to be flushed with seawater rather than freshwater. Independent statistics show that 30% of water used in hotels, touristfacilities, offices and homes is used for flushing toilets. The Poseidon 'SeaWater Cycle' is a viable alternative that could be made available to asignificant number of the world's population. Currently 350 million people livein 'water stressed' areas while more than 70% of the world's population liveswithin 50km of the sea. Management Neil McDougall, Executive Chairman of Modern Water, is a water investment expertwho led the highly successful acquisition of Mid Kent Group plc. A qualifiedChartered Accountant, Mr McDougall was also Chairman and one of the foundershareholders of Bream Investments, a special purpose vehicle set up for theattempted £4.4bn acquisition of AWG, the owner of Anglian Water. He has alsoadvised on a number of other water-based projects and acquisitions. Mr McDougall was Chairman of Swan Group plc ("Swan"), the holding company for anumber of businesses including Mid Kent Water plc. Swan was set up in May 2001to take private Mid Kent Holdings plc, a company quoted on the London StockExchange, with £200m of funding from WestLB. It was sold in 2005, realising asubstantial surplus for the shareholders. He was also Chairman and Chief Executive of Cascal, a joint venture betweenBiwater plc and Nuon N.V. specialising in investing and operating domestic andinternational water companies and public-private partnerships, and a director ofP&O Developments where he was responsible for P&O's property development andinvestment portfolio in Continental Europe. Simon Humphrey, Chief Executive of Modern Water, has been an Investment Managerat Laing O'Rourke focussed on water-related opportunities and a director of GlenWater Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture with Thames Water, the preferred bidder forProject Omega, a £135 million wastewater PPP project in Northern Ireland. Priorto that, Mr Humphrey was Investment Director at Spring Capital where he workedwith a large UK venture capital group on a bid for a UK water company and wherehe also led a team to bid for two water companies in Chile. He was alsoInvestment Director at Cascal, where he was responsible for structuring,financing and leading bids for a number of publicly owned water and wastewatercompanies, having previously spent five years at Biwater in a number of rolesincluding financial analyst, financial controller, management accountant andproject manager. Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: "We are really excited by thelaunch of Modern Water and are delighted to have attracted such a strongmanagement team. Neil and Simon are not only experts in this sector but alsohave excellent corporate track records which will be invaluable to the Company.Modern Water has ambitious plans to be the dominant player in water technologiesin the World and is starting life with three very promising opportunities." Neil McDougall, Chairman of Modern Water, said: "Modern Water represents anexciting opportunity to develop and commercialise technology for the watersector, an area that has remained underdeveloped until now. I look forward toworking with IP Group who have excellent relationships with a number ofuniversities and have demonstrated a strong track record of bringing technologyto market." For further information, please contact: IP Group plc 020 7489 5200 Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive OfficerLiz Vaughan-Adams (communications) 020 7489 5206/07979853802 Modern Water Neil McDougall 07740 930 303 Buchanan Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson, Mark Court 020 7466 5000 Notes for Editors About IP Group IP Group Plc is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company thatspecialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Grouplisted on AiM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. Ithas made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialiseuniversity intellectual property under a long term contract with the Universityof Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to earlystage technology venture capital funds, in 2004. The group has formed long-term partnerships with ten universities - theUniversity of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, theUniversity of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey, theUniversity of Southampton, Queen Mary (University of London), the University ofBath and the University of Glasgow. As at 30 June 2006, 44 spin-out companies had been created among the group'suniversity partners. Of those, eight have listed on the AiM market of the LondonStock Exchange and there have been two trade sales. For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com. ENDS This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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