Portfolio co Ceres Power announces ?9.7m funding

RNS Number : 7909Z

IP Group PLC

12 March 2013

 



 

FOR RELEASE ON

12 March 2013

IP Group plc -Portfolio company Ceres Power announces £9.7m funding round

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property based businesses, is pleased to note that portfolio company Ceres Power Holdings plc ("Ceres" or "the Company"), a leading developer of clean, efficient, cost-effective fuel cell technology for use in distributed generation and other applications, has today announced it intends to raise up to approximately £9.7 million (approximately £9.5 million net of expenses) through a placing and open offer at 8 pence per share.

The Directors of Ceres believe that the proceeds of the fundraise will provide sufficient capital to take Ceres through the next stage of OEM engagements and that, following the deployment of these funds, the Ceres core cell and FCM technology platform will be proven to be suitable for product development programmes with several OEMs in multiple geographies.

Within the next twelve months, Ceres expects to expand its pipeline of potential partners and intends to secure at least one commercial arrangement with an OEM customer for the use of Ceres' core cell and FCM technology platform in its products. It also expects a number of other third parties to evaluate Ceres' cells, stacks and FCMs during the same period.

IP Group has agreed to subscribe for 21,791,045 placing shares and has irrevocably committed to subscribe for its full entitlement of 3,208,955 open offer shares, representing an aggregate investment of £2 million. These 25 million new shares, together with IP Group's existing shares, will represent up to 24.8% of Ceres' enlarged issued share capital.

Other investors in the round include existing shareholders ORA (Guernsey) Limited and Sarasin & Partners LLP and new investor, Henderson Global Investors Limited.

The fundraise is conditional, amongst other things, upon the passing of the resolutions to be proposed at Ceres' general meeting convened for 11 a.m. on 28 March 2013.

For more information, please contact:

IP Group plc	www.ipgroupplc.com
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications	[phone] / [phone] [e-mail]
FTI Consulting
Ben  Atwell, John Dineen	[phone]

Notes for editors

About IP Group

IP Group is a leading UK intellectual property ("IP") commercialisation company, developing technology innovations primarily from its research intensive partner universities. The Group offers more than traditional venture capital, providing its companies with access to business building expertise, networks, recruitment and business support.

The Company's portfolio comprises holdings in over 60 companies including Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the DNA sequencing development company, Revolymer, best known for its removable chewing gum and Xeros, which has received many accolades for its revolutionary clothes washing techniques with a much reduced requirement for water.

The portfolio includes early stage to mature businesses and has exposure to five main sectors - Energy & Renewables, Medical Equipment & Supplies, Pharma & Biotech, IT & Communications and Chemicals & Materials. To date, fifteen of the portfolio companies IP Group has backed have listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and one on ISDX.

Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AIM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

About Ceres Power

Ceres Power is a leading developer of clean, efficient, cost-effective fuel cell technology for use in decentralised energy products that reduce operating costs, lower CO₂ emissions and improve energy security. These products use the Company's mass manufacturable technology platform, the Fuel Cell Module, based on the Company's unique patented intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell technology and operating on mains natural gas or in the future a range of other fuels including packaged fuels, such as LPG.

The Company is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, and has facilities in Horsham and Crawley, UK, including a pilot-scale fuel cell manufacturing facility.

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