Portfolio Company Update

Braveheart Investment Group plc 01 October 2007 1 October 2007 Braveheart Investment Group Investment into NiTech Solutions Limited - Second Close Braveheart Investment Group ('Braveheart'), the technology commercialisation and investment management company, announces that it has arranged second close funding of approximately £800k into NiTech Solutions Limited ('NiTech'). The funding is being provided by PUK Ventures, with the possibility of some additional investment from private investors. NiTech, a leading edge process intensification business, has developed a patented mixing technology for use across a wide range of industry applications. Based in East Kilbride, the Company was spun-out from Heriot-Watt University in 2003, having invented and patented a unique mixing technology known as the Continuous Oscillatory Baffled ReactorTM ('COBR'). Since then, NiTech has developed COBR to meet the specific needs of manufacturing customers such as Genzyme and FujiFilm in the UK and Avebe in Holland. COBR can be used by companies within the process industries to lower costs by 50% and reduce process time by 90% in manufacturing a wide range of commodities including chemicals, drugs and biofuels. The technology has significant advantages over traditional manufacturing processes in terms of cost and performance - making manufacturing faster but without compromising on product quality. Use of COBR also reduces the environmental impact of a process because of its lower use of energy compared to traditional methods. The investment follows the initial close in December 2006, where Braveheart led the funding round of c£1m. The monies raised will enable NiTech to create additional reference sites for its applications and drive forward will its commercialisation activity. Commenting, Geoffrey Thomson, Chief Executive of Braveheart said: 'We are delighted to have brought in a respected institutional investor in the form of PUK. This investment by PUK strengthens the NiTech proposition and underpins the investment we made late last year.' Ian Laird, Managing Director, of NiTech Solutions added: 'Since Braveheart's initial investment last year we have demonstrated the use of our technology for commercial applications such as crystallisation and hydrogenation, and won new customers producing a range of products including biofuels. We welcome this additional investment that will allow us to accelerate the next phase of commercialisation.' Puneet Bhatia, Investment Director of PUK Ventures said: 'Nitech offers a revolutionary technology with potential to make fundamental impact on quality and cost of manufacturing in key sectors including speciality chemicals, pharmaceuticals, oils and biofuels. We look forward to working closely with the management team in helping establish Nitech's as a premier provider of process designs and solutions.' NiTech has recently signed a contract with its first Biodiesel customer, Phoenix Fuels based in Nottingham UK. Their live production plant will be commissioned in December 2007. For further information, please contact: Braveheart Investment Group Tavistock Communications (for Braveheart) Geoffrey Thomson Rachel Drysdale Chief Executive Simon Hudson Tel: 01738 587555 Tel: 020 7920 3150 rdrysdale@tavistock.co.uk NiTech Solutions Limited PUK Ventures Ian Laird Puneet Bhatia Managing Director Investment Director Tel: 01355 245 993 Tel: 020 7273 8365 Ian.laird@nitechsolutions.co.uk Puneet.Bhatia@PUKVentures.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
UK 100

Latest directors dealings