Queen Mary Uni Partnership
IP Group PLC
21 July 2006
For immediate release 21st July 2006
IP Group plc
('IP Group' or the 'Company')
IP GROUP SIGNS 25 YEAR PARTNERSHIP WITH QUEEN MARY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
IP Group plc (LSE: IPO), the intellectual property commercialisation company, is
pleased to announce that it has entered into a long-term partnership with Queen
Mary, University of London ('Queen Mary').
Queen Mary is one of the leading colleges in the federal University of London
and has a strong research base with over 80 per cent of research staff working
in departments where research is of international or national excellence (RAE
2001). It has an annual turnover of £175 million and research income exceeding
£40 million (2005).
Under the terms of the partnership announced today, IP Group has agreed to work
with Queen Mary to identify and facilitate the formation of spin-out companies
and to invest an initial fund of up to £5 million in such companies in return
for equity stakes in them. Spin-out companies from Queen Mary will also have
access to capital from the IP Venture Fund, IP Group's recently launched venture
capital fund in partnership with the European Investment Fund. This additional
capital will not dilute IP Group's equity stakes in spin-out companies.
IP Group will also receive 13.3% of the equity in spin-out companies from Queen
Mary at the time that the company is established prior to investment. IP Group
will also work on licensing opportunities across Queen Mary and will receive 10%
of any income which Queen Mary receives from licensing during the lifetime of
the partnership. The partnership has a term of 25 years.
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: 'We are delighted to be
announcing this partnership with Queen Mary and are excited by the opportunities
that we have seen during the due diligence process. Queen Mary is our eighth
academic partner in the UK, and we are very much looking forward to working with
them. That we continue to attract such high profile universities is yet further
evidence that our business model is robust while confirming our position as the
UK's leading university intellectual property commercialisation company.'
Professor Adrian Smith, Principal of Queen Mary, University of London, said: 'We
are very pleased to have signed this agreement with IP Group, an established
operator in the area of IP commercialisation which has already had considerable
success in creating new companies based around research and in realising value
from them. This partnership will strengthen our existing entrepreneurial culture
and enable us to provide additional resources and expertise to support our
commercialisation activities.'
For further information, please contact:
IP Group plc 020 7489 5200
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer 020 7489 5206/07979853802
Liz Vaughan-Adams (communications)
Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000
Mark Court, Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson
Queen Mary, University of London
Caroline Quest, M.D., Innovation & Enterprise 0207 882 7458
Alex Fernandes (communications) 0207 882 7910
Notes for Editors
About IP Group
IP Group Plc is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company that
specialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Group
listed on AiM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. It
has made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialise
university intellectual property under a long term contract with the University
of Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to early
stage technology venture capital funds, in 2004.
The group has formed long-term partnerships with seven universities - the
University of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, the
University of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey and the
University of Southampton.
As at 13 June 2006, 42 spin-out companies had been created among the group's
university partners. Of those, seven have listed on the AiM market of the London
Stock Exchange and there has been one trade sale.
For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com
About Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary is one of the leading Colleges in the federal University of London,
with over 11,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and an academic and
support staff of around 2,600.
Queen Mary has a strong research base with over 80 per cent of research staff
working in departments where research is of international or national excellence
(RAE 2001). It has a strong international reputation, with around 20 per cent
of students coming from over 100 countries.
The College has 21 academic departments and institutes organised into three
sectors: Science and Engineering; Humanities, Social Sciences and Laws; and the
School of Medicine and Dentistry.
It has an annual turnover of £175 million, research income worth £43 million,
and it generates employment and output worth nearly £400 million to the UK
economy each year.
Queen Mary Innovation & Enterprise works to protect and exploit the College's
intellectual property and to build successful relationships with business and
industry so that academic knowledge and expertise can be brought to the
marketplace.
For more information, please visit our website at www.qmul.ac.uk
ENDS
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