10th Apr 2006 08:05
IP2IPO Group PLC10 April 2006 For immediate release 10 April 2006 IP2IPO Group plc OXFORD CATALYSTS GROUP PLC ANNOUNCES ITS INTENTION TO FLOAT ON THE AIM MARKET OF THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE IP2IPO Group plc (AIM: IPO) ("IP2IPO"), the intellectual propertycommercialisation company, is pleased to announce that Oxford Catalysts Groupplc ("Oxford Catalysts"), a spin-out company from the University of Oxford,focused on developing specialty catalysts with particular application in thegeneration of clean fuels, has today announced its intention to float on the AIMmarket of London Stock Exchange plc by way of a Placing. Prior to the PlacingIP2IPO holds a 40.3%1 equity stake in Oxford Catalysts. The press release issued today by Oxford Catalysts follows: Oxford Catalysts Group plc ("Oxford Catalysts" or "the Company") Intention to float on the AIM market of London Stock Exchange Oxford Catalysts Group plc has a unique platform of licensed intellectualproperty and proprietary rights to develop speciality catalysts for thegeneration of clean fuels from fossil fuels and certain renewable sources. TheCompany today announces its intention to list on the AIM Market of London StockExchange plc. Highlights The Company intends to raise approximately £15 million through NOMAD and brokerKBC Peel Hunt. The proceeds will be used to finance the Company's developmentand commercialisation strategy. Its shares are expected to begin trading on AIMin April 2006. Oxford Catalysts' carbide-based catalysts can match or exceed the benefits oftraditional precious metal catalysts for certain reactions, typically thoseinvolving hydrocarbons, at a lower cost. The main applications for thesecatalysts are: Removal of sulphur from hydrocarbon fuels - (hydro-desulphurisation, ("HDS")) Converting natural gas or coal into virtually-sulphur-free liquid fuels (knownas GTL and CTL respectively) - (Fischer-Tropsch ("FT")) Hydrogen-on-demand, producing hydrogen for fuel cells instantaneously from roomtemperature. This breakthrough technology has the potential to significantlyaccelerate the commercial adoption of fuel cells in the portable and othermobile applications markets Producing high temperature steam from a liquid fuel starting from ambienttemperatures for use in portable and motive applications Large and growing markets: Global market for energy and environmental catalysts is expected to double from$6.4 billion to $13 billion by 2009 Market for hydro-desulphurisation, ("HDS") catalysts currently believed to beworth more than $1 billion per annum and expected to grow The GTL market is believed to be the fastest growing niche in the global energymarket. Estimated production of GTL and CTL will require some $2.6 billion of FTcatalysts per annum The portable fuel cell market is expected to be driven by the fact thatconventional battery technology is close to its technical limits and is notprojected to improve sufficiently to meet the growing needs of portableinformation technology devices. The market for such fuel cells alone isestimated at $15 billion by 2013 Demand for cleaner alternatives to traditional fossil fuels and for moresustainable energy sources is being driven by security, price and availabilityof oil and the desire to control harmful emissions and greenhouse gases. The Company's strategy is to enter into co-development partnerships with leadingmanufacturers, producers and suppliers in the petroleum, petrochemicals, fuelcells, biogas and steam applications markets. The Company expects to license itscatalysts for commercial application in these markets. The Company has an experienced scientific, commercial and non-executive teammade up of energy and chemicals industry veterans and highly regarded inorganicchemists, with complementary skills to deliver. Commenting on the proposed flotation, Roy Lipski, Chief Executive of OxfordCatalysts, said: "Oxford Catalysts is the product of 19 years of research at the University ofOxford. We have a world class team of scientists who have developed an array ofcatalysts with the potential to revolutionise the 'clean fuels' industry. Thereis significant market potential for our products and we are confident that wehave the right team to commercialise our intellectual property and delivergrowth going forward." 1 Of which 5.2% is held for the benefit of certain employees of IP2IPO Limited. - Ends - For further information, please contact: Roy Lipski, Oxford Catalysts 07958 970 855Megan MacIntyre, KBC Peel Hunt 020 7418 8900Jonathon Brill/Billy Clegg/Andrew White, Financial Dynamics 020 7831 3113 Notes to Editors About Oxford Catalysts Oxford Catalysts is focused on developing specialty catalysts with particularapplication in the generation of clean fuels from both fossil fuels, and certainrenewable sources such as biomass. Its catalysts are based on over 19 years ofresearch at the University of Oxford that has resulted in a unique platform ofproprietary rights including an exclusive worldwide license for their licensedintellectual property. The Company was incorporated in October 2004 tocommercialise this IP developed at the world-leading Wolfson Catalysis Centre,headed by Professor Malcolm Green, one of the world's most respected inorganicchemists and a co-founder of the Company. Catalysts are a key element in the production process of certain clean fuels,including low-sulphur gasoline and hydrogen gas for fuel cells. Catalysts canreduce the cost of producing useful chemicals and, in some circumstances, it isimpossible to make chemical products economically without them. Oxford Catalysts has identified applications for its catalyst technology in thepetroleum and petrochemicals market, in particular for thehydro-desulphurisation ("HDS") of crude oil fractions and for Gas-to-Liquid ("GTL") and Coal-to-Liquid ("CTL") processing. The Company is also aiming todevelop products for fuel cells, including high temperature reforming catalystsand a low temperature reforming catalyst along with associated reformers for theportable and other mobile applications markets. In addition, the Company has catalysts for use in further applications such asbiogas processing and steam production and is developing associated devices forthe steam applications markets, such as steam cleaning. In August 2001, the co-founders of Oxford Catalysts, Professor Green and DrTiancun Xiao were provided with £124,500 from the University Challenge Seed Fundto help finance the commercialisation of their research. In December 2004, DrXiao was awarded a proof-of-concept grant of £23,500 from the University ofOxford proof-of-concept fund to demonstrate the process of producing hydrogengas from methanol and hydrogen peroxide starting at room temperature. In March2005, the University of Oxford received a commitment of up to $420,000 fromAramco Overseas Company B.V. for a team led by Professor Green to conductresearch into the removal of sulphur from diesel over three years at the WolfsonCatalysis Centre. In April 2005, the University of Oxford won a Carbon TrustInnovation Award for Dr Xiao's work on the conversion of waste methane intoliquid fuels. Management Team Dr Pierre Jungels, CBE (62), Non-executive Chairman Pierre, a certified engineer, has a PhD in geophysics and hydraulics from theCalifornia Institute of Technology, and has over 30 years experience in the oilindustry, 12 of which have been served at main board level, including ChiefExecutive of Enterprise Oil Plc, executive director of PetroFina and managingdirector of British Gas. He currently holds non-executive directorships atWoodside Petroleum Ltd, Bristow Group Inc. and Imperial Tobacco plc. He wastwice President of the Institute of Petroleum. Roy Lipski (34), Chief Executive Officer Roy is an experienced entrepreneur, who founded Infonic Ltd, an internetresearch software and services company, which served numerous multinationalclients. As MD of Infonic Ltd, he raised venture capital financing from HeraldVentures, developed and then sold the business to Corpora plc in 2004, where hewas appointed as Group Strategy Director. Roy formerly worked in Goldman Sachs'Fixed Income division. Dr William Barton (54), Chief Operating Officer Will has a DPhil in physics from the University of Oxford. He has held seniormanagement positions at ICI both in the UK and the US. In 1993, he becameDirector of Manufacturing at FMC's Process Additives Division based inManchester. In 1998, he moved to Flexsys plc, the Rubber Chemicals JV betweenAkzo Nobel and Solutia based in Belgium where became Vice President of one oftheir two strategic business units. He has had responsibility for chemicalprojects in South East Asia, China and South America. Paul Barnes, FCCA (52), Finance Director Paul, a qualified accountant, in 1991, co-founded and was Finance Director of UKTelecom Plc, an independent public access telecommunications company, which wassubsequently acquired by ITG Group Plc. From 1992 to 1998 he was a seniorofficer at the Tradepoint Stock Exchange (now Virt-x), becoming Chief FinancialOfficer in 1994 and Finance Director in January 1995. In 1999, Paul co-foundedTigerex Group, a company providing cross-border connectivity solutions tofinancial institutions. Since June 2005, Paul has served as part time FinanceDirector of the infection control company Tristel plc, which was admitted totrading on AIM in June 2005. Dr Tiancun Xiao (40), Chief Scientific Officer Tiancun obtained his PhD in heterogeneous catalysis from the Chinese Academy ofScience in 1993. As an Associate Professor at Shandong University, Tiancun spentseveral years collaborating on both petrochemical and environmental projectswith Sinopec, the Shandong Provincial Government and the World Bank. Tiancun haspublished over 80 papers in catalysis, has filed seven patents and has receivednumerous awards for his research both in China and the UK. Professor Malcolm Green (69), Non-executive Director Professor Green has recently retired from serving as Head of the InorganicChemistry Department at the University of Oxford but remains active in thatdepartment as an Emeritus Professor. He has been a visiting professor at theCalifornia Institute of Technology and at Harvard University and is currently avisiting professor at Hong Kong University. Malcolm is a Fellow of The RoyalSociety, was one of the most cited UK scientist of the 1990s and holds numerousother accolades, including the Royal Society's Davy Medal, the Royal Society ofChemistry's medals in both Organometallic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry, theChemistry Society's Medal in Transition Metal Chemistry, the American ChemicalSociety's Annual Award for Inorganic Chemistry and, the Gesellschaft DeutscherChemiker's Karl-Ziegler Prize. Dr Jan Verloop (62), Non-executive Director Jan received a PhD in chemical engineering from the Technical University ofDelft in 1971. He worked for over 30 years at Shell in The Netherlands, the UKand Singapore. He has worked in a variety of technical and management positionsin research, refining, licensing, strategy, planning and product development. In1998, he became Innovation Manager for Shell Global Solutions where he wasresponsible for creating strategic innovation. In 2003, Jan founded and isdirector of Causa Innovatie, an innovation consultancy company in The Hague. Heis the author of Insight in Innovation. Dr Andy Naylor (33), Non-executive Director Andy received a first class degree and PhD in Physics from the University ofNottingham. He then joined Booz Allen and Hamilton working in thecommunications, media and technology group before moving to IndexIT, the coretechnology advisory boutique. IndexIT was acquired by Beeson Gregory in 2000 andAndy joined the bank's private equity team where he focused on evaluatingIP-based investment opportunities and working with a number of early-stagetechnology companies in a business development capacity. Andy joined IP2IPOGroup plc at its formation in 2001 and since then has formed, advised and beenappointed to the boards of a variety of university spinout companies. Ends For more information about IP2IPO please contact: IP2IPO 020 7489 5200Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Tim Anderson, Mark Court, Mary-Jane Johnson Notes for editors: About IP2IPO IP2IPO is an intellectual property (IP) company that specialises incommercialising university technology. The Company was founded in 2001 andlisted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange plc in October 2003.IP2IPO's first partnership was with the University of Oxford. In return for aninvestment of £20 million, IP2IPO has acquired 50 per cent of the University ofOxford's equity in spin-out companies and technology licenses based onintellectual property created at the Chemistry Department until 2015. InNovember 2003, IP2IPO created a £5 million seed capital fund for investing inspin-out companies across the University of Oxford, not just those originatingwithin the Chemistry Department. In March 2002, IP2IPO entered into a second long-term partnership with theUniversity of Southampton. Under the terms of this partnership, IP2IPO iscommitted to working with the University of Southampton in the identificationand facilitation of spin-out companies from across the University of Southamptonand to investing £5 million in early-stage University of Southampton spin-outcompanies over a four year period in return for equity stakes in thosecompanies. In addition, IP2IPO also received a 20 per cent stake in SouthamptonAsset Management Limited, a company that has been formed to hold theUniversity's equity stakes in its spin-out companies. The partnership has a termof at least 25 years. IP2IPO entered into its third long-term partnership in May 2003 with King'sCollege London. IP2IPO works with King's College London to help identify andprogress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest £5 million in seedcapital in spin-out companies from King's College London over a five year periodin return for equity stakes in those companies. In addition, IP2IPO receives 20per cent of King's College London's equity in spin-out companies and technologylicenses. The partnership has a term of 25 years. In October 2003, IP2IPO announced a fourth partnership with the Centre for NovelAgricultural Products ("CNAP"), based at the University of York. CNAP is aflagship research centre that specialises in plant and microbial gene discovery.Under the terms of the partnership a new company, Amaethon Limited, has beencreated which has the right to commercialise CNAP's IP for 25 years. IP2IPO hasinvested £1.15m in Amaethon Limited in return for a 40% equity stake in AmaethonLimited (the remaining equity being owned by the University of York) and willalso invest in the spin-out companies based on CNAP's IP which Amaethon Limitedcreates. In June 2004, IP2IPO acquired Top Technology Ventures Limited, an investmentadviser to early stage technology funds. This combines IP2IPO's expertise in thecreation of new ventures based on world leading university IP with TopTechnology's focus on making early stage venture capital investments. In January 2005, IP2IPO acquired Techtran, a company set up in 2002 tocommercialise university intellectual property under a long-term technologycommercialisation contract with the University of Leeds. Under the terms of thecontract Techtran receives a significant (30%) interest in spin-out companiescreated and technology licences negotiated, in return for the provision oftechnology transfer services to the University. In May 2005, IP2IPO announced the launch of LifeUK, a new subsidiary company.LifeUK, which has since been renamed Modern Biosciences, will in-license lifescience intellectual property created by medical researchers at universitieswith which IP2IPO already has partnerships, other universities in the UK andsimilar academic and charitable research institutions. Modern Biosciences'objective is to further develop the intellectual property which it in-licenseswith a view to creating substantial value either by subsequently licensing thesedevelopment programmes to the pharmaceutical industry or via the creation of newventures. In December 2005, IP2IPO entered into its sixth long-term partnership with theUniversity of Bristol. IP2IPO will work with the University of Bristol to helpidentify and progress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest aninitial £5 million in seed capital in spin-out companies from the University ofBristol over a five year period in return for equity stakes in those companies.In addition, IP2IPO will receive 13.3% per cent of in spin-out companies at thetime that the company is established prior to investment. The partnership has aterm of 25 years. In February 2006, IP2IPO entered into its seventh long-term partnership with theUniversity of Surrey. IP2IPO will work with the University of Surrey to helpidentify and progress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest aninitial fund of up to £5 million in seed capital in spin-out companies from theUniversity of Surrey in return for equity stakes in those companies. Inaddition, IP2IPO will receive 13.3% per cent of in spin-out companies at thetime that the company is established prior to investment. The partnership has aterm of 25 years. In March 2006, IP2IPO entered into an exclusive long-term partnership with theUniversity of York. The partnership is in addition to IP2IPO's currentpartnership with the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products. IP2IPO will workwith the University of York to help identify and progress commercialisationopportunities as well as invest an initial fund of £5 million in seed capital inspin-out companies from the University of York in return for equity stakes inthose companies. In addition, IP2IPO will receive 25% of the equity in anyspin-out company from the University at the time that the company isestablished, prior to investment, if IP2IPO invests in the company from the fundand 15% of the equity if it does not invest from the fund. IP2IPO will alsoreceive 10% of any income which the University of York receives from licensingduring the lifetime of the partnership. The partnership has a term of 25 years. To date, 6 spin-out companies from the IP2IPO portfolio have listed on the AIMMarket of the London Stock Exchange plc: Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping plc,Synairgen plc, VASTox plc, Proximagen Neuroscience plc, GETECH Group plc andSyntopix Group plc. There has been one trade sale: Toumaz Technology Limited wassold to Nanoscience Inc. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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