Oxford Catalysts IPO
IP2IPO Group PLC
10 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 property
commercialisation company, is pleased to announce that Oxford Catalysts Group
plc ('Oxford Catalysts'), a spin-out company from the University of Oxford,
focused on developing specialty catalysts with particular application in the
generation of clean fuels, has today announced its intention to float on the AIM
market of London Stock Exchange plc by way of a Placing. Prior to the Placing
IP2IPO 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 intellectual
property and proprietary rights to develop speciality catalysts for the
generation of clean fuels from fossil fuels and certain renewable sources. The
Company today announces its intention to list on the AIM Market of London Stock
Exchange plc.
Highlights
The Company intends to raise approximately £15 million through NOMAD and broker
KBC Peel Hunt. The proceeds will be used to finance the Company's development
and commercialisation strategy. Its shares are expected to begin trading on AIM
in April 2006.
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 main applications for these
catalysts are:
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
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 be
worth more than $1 billion per annum and expected to grow
The GTL market is believed to be the fastest growing niche in the global energy
market. Estimated production of GTL and CTL will require some $2.6 billion of FT
catalysts per annum
The portable fuel cell market is expected to be driven by the fact that
conventional battery technology is close to its technical limits and is not
projected to improve sufficiently to meet the growing needs of portable
information technology devices. The market for such fuel cells alone is
estimated at $15 billion by 2013
Demand for cleaner alternatives to traditional fossil fuels and for more
sustainable energy sources is being driven by security, price and availability
of oil and the desire to control harmful emissions and greenhouse gases.
The Company's strategy is to enter into co-development partnerships with leading
manufacturers, producers and suppliers in the petroleum, petrochemicals, fuel
cells, biogas and steam applications markets. The Company expects to license its
catalysts for commercial application in these markets.
The Company has an experienced scientific, commercial and non-executive team
made up of energy and chemicals industry veterans and highly regarded inorganic
chemists, with complementary skills to deliver.
Commenting on the proposed flotation, Roy Lipski, Chief Executive of Oxford
Catalysts, said:
'Oxford Catalysts is the product of 19 years of research at the University of
Oxford. We have a world class team of scientists who have developed an array of
catalysts with the potential to revolutionise the 'clean fuels' industry. There
is significant market potential for our products and we are confident that we
have the right team to commercialise our intellectual property and deliver
growth 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 970 855
Megan MacIntyre, KBC Peel Hunt 020 7418 8900
Jonathon 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 particular
application in the generation of clean fuels from both fossil fuels, and certain
renewable sources such as biomass. Its catalysts are based on over 19 years of
research at the University of Oxford that has resulted in a unique platform of
proprietary rights including an exclusive worldwide license for their licensed
intellectual property. The Company was incorporated in October 2004 to
commercialise this IP developed at the world-leading Wolfson Catalysis Centre,
headed by Professor Malcolm Green, one of the world's most respected inorganic
chemists 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 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 high temperature reforming catalysts
and a low temperature reforming catalyst along with associated reformers for the
portable and other mobile applications markets.
In addition, the Company has catalysts for use in further applications such as
biogas processing and steam production and is developing associated devices for
the steam applications markets, such as steam cleaning.
In August 2001, the co-founders of Oxford Catalysts, Professor Green and Dr
Tiancun Xiao were provided with £124,500 from the University Challenge Seed Fund
to help finance the commercialisation of their research. In December 2004, Dr
Xiao was awarded a proof-of-concept grant of £23,500 from the University of
Oxford proof-of-concept fund to demonstrate the process of producing hydrogen
gas from methanol and hydrogen peroxide starting at room temperature. In March
2005, the University of Oxford received a commitment of up to $420,000 from
Aramco Overseas Company B.V. for a team led by Professor Green to conduct
research into the removal of sulphur from diesel over three years at the Wolfson
Catalysis Centre. In April 2005, the University of Oxford won a Carbon Trust
Innovation Award for Dr Xiao's work on the conversion of waste methane into
liquid fuels.
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.
Ends
For more information about IP2IPO please contact:
IP2IPO 020 7489 5200
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer
Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000
Tim Anderson, Mark Court, Mary-Jane Johnson
Notes for editors:
About IP2IPO
IP2IPO 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.
IP2IPO's first partnership was with the University of Oxford. In return for an
investment of £20 million, IP2IPO 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, IP2IPO 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, IP2IPO entered into a second long-term partnership with the
University of Southampton. Under the terms of this partnership, IP2IPO 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, IP2IPO 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.
IP2IPO entered into its third long-term partnership in May 2003 with King's
College London. IP2IPO 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, IP2IPO 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, IP2IPO 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. IP2IPO has
invested £1.15m in Amaethon Limited in return for a 40% 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, IP2IPO acquired Top Technology Ventures Limited, an investment
adviser to early stage technology funds. This combines IP2IPO'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, IP2IPO 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%) 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, IP2IPO announced the launch of LifeUK, a new subsidiary company.
LifeUK, which has since been renamed Modern Biosciences, 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, IP2IPO entered into its sixth long-term partnership with the
University of Bristol. IP2IPO 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 addition, IP2IPO 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 February 2006, IP2IPO entered into its seventh long-term partnership with the
University of Surrey. IP2IPO 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, IP2IPO 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, IP2IPO entered into an exclusive long-term partnership with the
University of York. The partnership is in addition to IP2IPO's current
partnership with the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products. IP2IPO 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, IP2IPO 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 IP2IPO invests in the company from the fund
and 15% of the equity if it does not invest from the fund. IP2IPO will also
receive 10% of any income which the University of York receives from licensing
during 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 AIM
Market of the London Stock Exchange plc: Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping plc,
Synairgen plc, VASTox plc, Proximagen Neuroscience plc, GETECH Group plc and
Syntopix Group plc. There has been one trade sale: Toumaz Technology Limited was
sold to Nanoscience Inc.
This information is provided by RNS
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