Re Oxford Catalysts Group Plc

IP2IPO Group PLC
26 April 2006




For immediate release                                             26 April 2006

                                     IP GROUP PLC


                 OXFORD CATALYSTS GROUP PLC SUCCESSFUL PLACING

                              AND ADMISSION TO AIM



IP Group plc (AIM: IPO) ('IP Group'), the intellectual property
commercialisation company, is pleased to note that today is the first day of
trading on AIM of ordinary shares of 1p each ('Ordinary Shares') in Oxford
Catalysts Group plc ('Oxford Catalysts'), a spin-out company from The University
of Oxford focused on developing speciality catalysts with particular application
in the generation of clean fuels.



Oxford Catalysts raised £15 million (before expenses) at a placing price of 174p
per Ordinary Share (the 'Placing Price') and its market capitalization on
admission to AIM at the Placing Price, was £65 million. IP Group placed
1,149,425 Ordinary Shares in Oxford Catalysts realizing proceeds of £2.0 million
(before expenses).



Following the placing, IP Group has beneficial ownership of 8,919,232 Ordinary
Shares in Oxford Catalysts (worth £15.5 million at the Placing Price),
representing 23.9%* of Oxford Catalysts' enlarged issued share capital.



The admission of Oxford Catalysts to AIM will result in an incremental increase
in value to the Company of £17 million, of which £2 million is to be realised at
flotation and £15 million represents an unrealized fair value gain. In
compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards fair value increases
and decreases are recorded in the Company's income statement. The Company will
continue to make further announcements in respect of transactions relating to
its portfolio companies resulting in material fair value movements when they
occur.



* IIP Group has a registered holding of 10,856,061 Ordinary Shares of which
1,936,829 Ordinary Shares representing 5.2%, is held in connection with an
employee incentive plan of IP2IPO Limited.



For further information about IP Group or Oxford Catalysts please contact:


IP Group                                                           020 7489 5200
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer



Oxford Catalysts Group plc                                          07917 826863
Roy Lipski, Chief Executive Officer

KBC Peel Hunt Ltd                                                  020 7418 8900
Megan McIntyre

Buchanan Communications                                            020 7466 5000
Mark Court, Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson





The announcement issued by Oxford Catalysts Group plc today follows:



                            OXFORD CATALYSTS GROUP PLC



                      ('Oxford Catalysts' or 'the Company')



            SUCCESSFUL £15 MILLION FUNDRAISING AND ADMISSION TO AIM



Oxford Catalysts Group, which focuses on developing specialty catalysts with
particular application in the generation of clean fuels from fossil fuels and
certain renewable sources, has today been admitted to the AIM market of London
Stock Exchange plc.



KBC Peel Hunt Ltd is Oxford Catalysts' nominated adviser and broker



£15 million (£14 million net of expenses) was raised for Oxford Catalysts via an
over-subscribed placing of 8,620,690 shares at a price of 174 p per ordinary
share of 1p each, valuing the Company at £65 million. A further £2 million was
raised on behalf of IP2IPO Limited.



The Group's catalysts are based on over 19 years of research at the University
of Oxford's world-leading Wolfson Catalysis Centre, headed by Professor Malcolm
Green, a highly regarded inorganic chemist and a co-founder of the Company.
This research has resulted in a unique platform of licensed intellectual
property and proprietary rights.



Oxford Catalysts' carbide-based catalysts can match or exceed the benefits of
traditional precious metal catalysts for certain reactions, typically those
involving hydrocarbons, at a lower cost.



The Company has developed and licensed its technology with applications in the
following markets:

•        Removal of sulphur from hydrocarbon fuels - (hydro-desulphurisation, ('
HDS'))

•        Converting natural gas or coal into virtually-sulphur-free liquid fuels
(known as GTL and CTL respectively) - (Fischer-Tropsch ('FT'))

•        Hydrogen-on-demand, producing hydrogen for fuel cells instantaneously
from room temperature. This breakthrough technology has the potential to
significantly accelerate the commercial adoption of fuel cells in the portable
and other mobile applications markets

•        Producing high temperature steam from a liquid fuel starting from
ambient temperatures for use in portable and motive applications



The Company intends to apply the net proceeds of the Placing to provide working
capital to finance the Group's development and commercialisation strategy which
currently comprises the refinement of existing catalysts, the recruitment of up
to 25 employees over the next 18 months, the re-location to, and fit-out of, new
premises and the purchase of necessary laboratory equipment, and the enhancement
of its portfolio of intellectual property.







Commenting on the Group's Admission to AIM, Roy Lipski, Chief Executive of
Oxford Catalysts Group plc said:



'We are delighted with the Placing and admission to AIM, following the strong
demand for our shares.  The money raised will allow us to commercialise, develop
and expand on our current portfolio of licensed IP, which we are confident will
help to revolutionise the market for 'clean fuels'.'



Placing statistics

Placing price                                                                                             174p
Number of Placing Shares                                                                             8,620,690
Comprising:
New First Admission Shares                                                                           8,390,805
Second Admission Shares*                                                                               229,885
Number of Existing Ordinary Shares to be placed on behalf of IP2IPO Limited                          1,149,425
Number of Ordinary Shares in issue on Admission                                                     37,341,183
Market capitalisation of the Company at the Placing Price on Admission                             £65 million
Placing Shares as a percentage of the Enlarged Issued Share Capital                               23 per cent.
Gross proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company                                            £15 million
Net proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company                                              £14 million

*Application has been made for admission of 229,885 Ordinary Shares in respect
of the Second Admission Shares placed with certain VCTs. Dealings are expected
to commence in these Ordinary Shares on 27 April 2006.



For further information, call:
Roy Lipski, Oxford Catalysts                                                           07958 970 855
Jonathon Brill/Billy Clegg, Financial Dynamics                                         020 7831 3113
Megan MacIntyre, KBC Peel Hunt                                                         020 7418 8900





www.oxfordcatalysts.com





Notes to Editors

About Oxford Catalysts



Oxford Catalysts is focused on developing specialty catalysts with particular
application in the generation of clean fuels from both fossil fuels and certain
renewable fuels such as biogas. Its catalysts are based on over 19 years of
research at the University of Oxford which has resulted in a unique platform of
proprietary rights, including an exclusive worldwide license for their licensed
intellectual property. The Company was founded by Professor Malcolm Green and Dr
Tiancun Xiao, two highly regarded and experienced inorganic chemists, to
commercialise research at the world-leading Wolfson Catalysis Centre.



Catalysts are a key element in the production process of certain clean fuels,
including low-sulphur gasoline and hydrogen gas for fuel cells. Catalysts can
reduce the cost of producing useful chemicals and, in some circumstances, it is
impossible to make chemical products economically without them.



Oxford Catalysts has identified applications for its catalyst technology in the
petroleum and petrochemicals market, in particular for the
hydro-desulphurisation ('HDS') of crude oil fractions and for Gas-to-Liquid 
('GTL') and Coal-to-Liquid ('CTL') processing. The Company is also aiming to
develop products for fuel cells, including both high temperature and low
temperature reforming catalysts along with associated prototype reformers for,
inter alia, the portable device market and domestic combined heat and power.
The Company's carbide-based catalysts can match or exceed the benefits of
traditional precious metal catalysts for certain reactions, typically those
involving hydrocarbons, at a lower cost.

In addition, the Company has developed catalysts to be used in further
applications such as biogas conversion and steam production, and is developing
associated prototype devices for the steam applications market, such as steam
cleaning.





Oxford Catalysts' Board of Directors



Dr Pierre Jungels, CBE (62), Non-executive Chairman

Roy Lipski (34), Chief Executive Officer

Dr William Barton (54), Chief Operating Officer

Paul Barnes, FCCA (52), Finance Director

Dr Tiancun Xiao (40), Chief Scientific Officer

Professor Malcolm Green (70), Non-executive Director

Dr Jan Verloop (62), Non-executive Director

Dr Andy Naylor (33), Non-executive Director



                                                            End





For further information about IP Group or Oxford Catalysts please contact:


IP Group                                                           020 7489 5200
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer

Oxford Catalysts Group plc                                          07917 826863
Roy Lipski, Chief Executive Officer

KBC Peel Hunt Ltd                                                  020 7418 8900
Megan McIntyre

Buchanan Communications                                            020 7466 5000
Mark Court, Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson



Notes for editors



About Oxford Catalysts Group plc



Management Team

Dr Pierre Jungels, CBE (62), Non-executive Chairman

Pierre, a certified engineer, has a PhD in geophysics and hydraulics from the
California Institute of Technology, and has over 30 years experience in the oil
industry, 12 of which have been served at main board level, including Chief
Executive of Enterprise Oil Plc, executive director of PetroFina and managing
director of British Gas. He currently holds non-executive directorships at
Woodside Petroleum Ltd, Bristow Group Inc. and Imperial Tobacco plc. He was
twice President of the Institute of Petroleum.



Roy Lipski (34), Chief Executive Officer

Roy is an experienced entrepreneur, who founded Infonic Ltd, an internet
research software and services company, which served numerous multinational
clients. As MD of Infonic Ltd, he raised venture capital financing from Herald
Ventures, developed and then sold the business to Corpora plc in 2004, where he
was 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 senior
management positions at ICI both in the UK and the US. In 1993, he became
Director of Manufacturing at FMC's Process Additives Division based in
Manchester. In 1998, he moved to Flexsys plc, the Rubber Chemicals JV between
Akzo Nobel and Solutia based in Belgium where became Vice President of one of
their two strategic business units. He has had responsibility for chemical
projects 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 UK
Telecom Plc, an independent public access telecommunications company, which was
subsequently acquired by ITG Group Plc. From 1992 to 1998 he was a senior
officer at the Tradepoint Stock Exchange (now Virt-x), becoming Chief Financial
Officer in 1994 and Finance Director in January 1995. In 1999, Paul co-founded
Tigerex Group, a company providing cross-border connectivity solutions to
financial institutions. Since June 2005, Paul has served as part time Finance
Director of the infection control company Tristel plc, which was admitted to
trading on AIM in June 2005.



Dr Tiancun Xiao (40), Chief Scientific Officer

Tiancun obtained his PhD in heterogeneous catalysis from the Chinese Academy of
Science in 1993. As an Associate Professor at Shandong University, Tiancun spent
several years collaborating on both petrochemical and environmental projects
with Sinopec, the Shandong Provincial Government and the World Bank. Tiancun has
published over 80 papers in catalysis, has filed seven patents and has received
numerous 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 Inorganic
Chemistry Department at the University of Oxford but remains active in that
department as an Emeritus Professor. He has been a visiting professor at the
California Institute of Technology and at Harvard University and is currently a
visiting professor at Hong Kong University. Malcolm is a Fellow of The Royal
Society, was one of the most cited UK scientist of the 1990s and holds numerous
other accolades, including the Royal Society's Davy Medal, the Royal Society of
Chemistry's medals in both Organometallic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry, the
Chemistry Society's Medal in Transition Metal Chemistry, the American Chemical
Society's Annual Award for Inorganic Chemistry and, the Gesellschaft Deutscher
Chemiker's Karl-Ziegler Prize.



Dr Jan Verloop (62), Non-executive Director

Jan received a PhD in chemical engineering from the Technical University of
Delft in 1971. He worked for over 30 years at Shell in The Netherlands, the UK
and Singapore. He has worked in a variety of technical and management positions
in research, refining, licensing, strategy, planning and product development. In
1998, he became Innovation Manager for Shell Global Solutions where he was
responsible for creating strategic innovation. In 2003, Jan founded and is
director of Causa Innovatie, an innovation consultancy company in The Hague. He
is 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 of
Nottingham. He then joined Booz Allen and Hamilton working in the
communications, media and technology group before moving to IndexIT, the core
technology advisory boutique. IndexIT was acquired by Beeson Gregory in 2000 and
Andy joined the bank's private equity team where he focused on evaluating
IP-based investment opportunities and working with a number of early-stage
technology companies in a business development capacity. Andy joined IP2IPO
Group plc at its formation in 2001 and since then has formed, advised and been
appointed to the boards of a variety of university spinout companies.





About IP Group plc



IP Group is an intellectual property (IP) company that specialises in
commercialising university technology. The Company was founded in 2001 and
listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange plc in October 2003. IP
Group's first partnership was with the University of Oxford. In return for an
investment of £20 million, IP Group has acquired 50 per cent of the University
of Oxford's equity in spin-out companies and technology licenses based on
intellectual property created at the Chemistry Department until 2015. In
November 2003, IP Group created a £5 million seed capital fund for investing in
spin-out companies across the University of Oxford, not just those originating
within the Chemistry Department.



In March 2002, IP Group entered into a second long-term partnership with the
University of Southampton. Under the terms of this partnership, IP Group is
committed to working with the University of Southampton in the identification
and facilitation of spin-out companies from across the University of Southampton
and to investing £5 million in early-stage University of Southampton spin-out
companies over a four year period in return for equity stakes in those
companies. In addition, IP Group also received a 20 per cent stake in
Southampton Asset Management Limited, a company that has been formed to hold the
University's equity stakes in its spin-out companies. The partnership has a term
of at least 25 years.



IP Group entered into its third long-term partnership in May 2003 with King's
College London. IP Group works with King's College London to help identify and
progress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest £5 million in seed
capital in spin-out companies from King's College London over a five year period
in return for equity stakes in those companies. In addition, IP Group receives
20 per cent of King's College London's equity in spin-out companies and
technology licenses. The partnership has a term of 25 years.



In October 2003, IP Group announced a fourth partnership with the Centre for
Novel Agricultural Products ('CNAP'), based at the University of York. CNAP is a
flagship research centre that specialises in plant and microbial gene discovery.
Under the terms of the partnership a new company, Amaethon Limited, has been
created which has the right to commercialise CNAP's IP for 25 years. IP Group
has invested £1.15m in Amaethon Limited in return for a 40 per cent. equity
stake in Amaethon Limited (the remaining equity being owned by the University of
York) and will also invest in the spin-out companies based on CNAP's IP which
Amaethon Limited creates.



In June 2004, IP Group acquired Top Technology Ventures Limited, an investment
adviser to early stage technology funds. This combines IP Group's expertise in
the creation of new ventures based on world leading university IP with Top
Technology's focus on making early stage venture capital investments.



In January 2005, IP Group acquired Techtran, a company set up in 2002 to
commercialise university intellectual property under a long-term technology
commercialisation contract with the University of Leeds. Under the terms of the
contract Techtran receives a significant (30 per cent.) interest in spin-out
companies created and technology licences negotiated, in return for the
provision of technology transfer services to the University.



In May 2005, IP Group announced the launch of Modern Biosciences, which will
in-license life science intellectual property created by medical researchers at
universities with which IP2IPO already has partnerships, other universities in
the UK and similar academic and charitable research institutions. Modern
Biosciences' objective is to further develop the intellectual property which it
in-licenses with a view to creating substantial value either by subsequently
licensing these development programmes to the pharmaceutical industry or via the
creation of new ventures.



In December 2005, IP Group entered into its sixth long-term partnership with the
University of Bristol. IP Group will work with the University of Bristol to help
identify and progress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest an
initial £5 million in seed capital in spin-out companies from the University of
Bristol over a five year period in return for equity stakes in those companies.
In return, IP Group will receive 13.3 per cent of equity spin-out companies from
the University of Bristol at the time that the spin-out company is established
prior to investment. The partnership has a term of 25 years.



In February 2006, IP Group entered into its seventh long-term partnership with
the University of Surrey. IP Group will work with the University of Surrey to
help identify and progress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest an
initial fund of up to £5 million in seed capital in spin-out companies from the
University of Surrey in return for equity stakes in those companies. In
addition, IP Group will receive 13.3% per cent of in spin-out companies at the
time that the company is established prior to investment. The partnership has a
term of 25 years.



In March 2006, IP Group entered into an exclusive long-term partnership with the
University of York. The partnership is in addition to IP Group's current
partnership with the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, IP Group will work
with the University of York to help identify and progress commercialisation
opportunities as well as invest an initial fund of £5 million in seed capital in
spin-out companies from the University of York in return for equity stakes in
those companies. In addition, IP Group will receive 25% of the equity in any
spin-out company from the University at the time that the company is
established, prior to investment, if IP Group invests in the company from the
fund and 15% of the equity if it does not invest from the Fund. IP Group will
also receive 10% of any income which the University of York receives from
licencing during the lifetime of the partnership.  The partnership has a term of
25 years.



To date, 7 spin-out companies from the IP2IPO portfolio have listed on the AIM
Market of London Stock Exchange plc: Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping plc, Synairgen
plc, VASTox plc, Proximagen Neuroscience plc, GETECH Group plc, Syntopix Group
plc and Oxford Catalysts Group plc. There has been one trade sale: Toumaz
Technology Limited was sold to Nanoscience Inc.






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