Investment in Oxford Genetics Limited

RNS Number : 5547N

Mercia Technologies PLC

27 October 2016

 

27 October 2016

Mercia Technologies PLC

("Mercia" or "the Company")

Investment in Oxford Genetics Limited

Mercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC), which is focused on the creation, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions, is pleased to announce a follow-on investment of £1.0million into Oxford Genetics Limited 'Oxford Genetics', a synthetic biology company with significant expertise in DNA design. The investment follows the recent expansion of Oxford Genetics' Board and its relocation to new, state-of-the-art facilities at Oxford Science Park.

Oxford Genetics first received seed investment via Mercia's third party managed funds in 2013 as a founding investor before transitioning it to Mercia's direct investment portfolio of 'Emerging Stars' in December 2015. Mercia has now invested £2.2million to date and holds 47.2% of the total issued share capital. This further capital support will enable Oxford Genetics to continue licensing its proprietary technology, SnapFast™, which makes DNA assembly significantly more efficient for research and production purposes within the rapidly expanding markets of Cell and Gene Therapy. 

The company has recently appointed three new Board members to strengthen its position as one of the global leaders in DNA design. Dr David Hames, the highly experienced Non-executive Director, joins as Chairman and Dr Matt Baker joins as a Non-executive Director. Matt was formerly the Founder of Antitope, which now forms part of Abzena plc, a Mercia portfolio company that listed on AIM in July 2014. Finally, Dr Paul Brookes has been appointed as Commercial Director. Paul was formerly Global Marketing Manager for Sigma-Aldrich in the USA.

As part of their growth strategy, Oxford Genetics has also relocated to new facilities at Oxford Science Park. These start-of-the art facilities include dedicated cell development suites and new technology capable of automating certain processes, allowing the company to scale its services in line with increasing demand from new and existing customers.

Ryan Cawood, CEO of Oxford Genetics, said:

"We are delighted to receive this continued support from Mercia, which follows a period of sustained growth for Oxford Genetics. The company has expanded significantly in the last year, and is now looking to reinforce its position as an important player in DNA design, protein expression and virus & cell line engineering."

Dr Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia Technologies PLC, said:

"Synthetic biology is a key sub-sector for Mercia and we are pleased to be able to make a further investment in Oxford Genetics as it moves into a pivotal stage of its DNA design development. We are confident that with our support Oxford Genetics will continue to scale becoming what we believe will be a global provider of synthetic biology solutions, in what is a very attractive and growing market."

For further information, please contact:

Mercia Technologies PLC Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer Martin Glanfield, Chief Financial Officer www.merciatechnologies.com	[phone]
Cenkos Securities plc Ivonne Cantu / Mark Connelly (NOMAD)	[phone]
Buchanan Sophie McNulty, Victoria Hayns, Stephanie Watson www.buchanan.uk.com	[phone]

About Mercia

Mercia is a national investment group focused on the creation, funding and scaling of innovative businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions. Mercia employs 60 people across six offices and it has one of the largest university networks in the UK with 18 university partnerships across the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland. These partnerships provide access to high quality, regional deal flow which accounts for approximately one third of Mercia's investments.

Mercia's 'Complete Capital Solution' enables it to scale businesses via its third party funds (with more than £220.0million under management) and then over time Mercia identifies its 'Emerging Stars' which it can provide further capital to using its own balance sheet. Mercia focuses on sourcing and scaling businesses across four sectors: Digital & Digital Entertainment; Life Sciences and Bio-sciences; Software & the Internet and; Electronics, Materials & Manufacturing/Engineering.

In a recent report (Source: Beauhurst, The Deal, 2015/16), Mercia was found to be the fifth most active investor in the UK and the fourth most active in technology.  Since its IPO in December 2014, the Company continues to seek early stage third party investment opportunities and it has directly invested over £24.0million across its portfolio of 'Emerging Stars'. In addition to providing its direct investments with the required capital, Mercia also supports the management teams to build towards exits that will realise incremental value for Mercia shareholders over the medium term.

The Mercia Group comprises Mercia Technologies PLC, Mercia Fund Management Ltd and Enterprise Ventures Group Ltd. Mercia is quoted on AIM with the epic "MERC".

 

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