Fully subscribed placing to raise £1.1m

RNS Number : 0634F

Versarien PLC

25 July 2016

 

25 July 2016

Versarien plc

("Versarien" or the "Company")

Fully subscribed placing to raise £1.1m

Versarien plc (AIM: VRS), the AIM quoted advanced engineering materials group, is pleased to announce that it has today conditionally raised £1.1m by way of a fully subscribed placing of 10,552,100 new Ordinary Shares of 1 pence each, utilising the Company's existing share authorities, at a price of 10 pence per share with existing institutional shareholders.

This announcement contains inside information which is disclosed in accordance with the Market Abuse Regulation.

Placing summary

The issue price of 10 pence per share represents a discount of 4.8 per cent. against the mid-market price of 10.5 pence per share at which the Ordinary Shares were quoted on AIM as at close of trading on 22 July 2016, the last trading day prior to announcement of the placing.

As both Henderson Global Investors and Miton Asset Management are existing holders of greater than 10 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company, this transaction is considered a related party transaction in accordance with Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly, the independent directors, having consulted with WH Ireland Limited, the Company's nominated adviser, consider that the terms of the placing are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.

Use of proceeds

The primary use of proceeds will be to finance one of the proposed acquisitions referred to in the trading update dated 6 April 2016, a complementary business which will benefit from Versarien's graphene technology. This complimentary acquisition is in line with Versarien's stated strategy to bring innovative new engineering solutions that are capable of have a game changing impact on a broad variety of industries. Heads of terms have been agreed and the balance of the consideration is anticipated to be met by the Company's committed debt facilities.  Remaining proceeds from the placing will be used for working capital purposes for the enlarged group.

Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien plc commented: "We are delighted by the strong level of support from existing investors in the placing.  The proceeds of the fundraising should allow for the Company to capitalise on a number of significant opportunities such as the potential acquisition in addition to accelerating the progress of the business. We are committed to growing this business and improving the innovative products we produce and we would like to thank our investors for their continued support."

Application has been made for the placing shares to be admitted to trading on AIM, with dealings expected to commence on 28 July 2016. 

In accordance with the provisions of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority, the Company confirms that, following these issues, its issued share capital will comprise 116,183,614 Ordinary Shares of 1 pence each. All of these Ordinary Shares have equal voting rights and none of the Ordinary Shares are held in Treasury. The total number of voting rights in the Company will therefore be 116,183,614 on Admission. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

For further information please contact:

Versarien plc	www.versarien.com
Neill Ricketts - Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Chris Leigh - Chief Financial Officer
WH Ireland (Nominated Adviser)	www.wh-ireland.co.uk
John Wakefield / Ed Allsopp	[phone]
IFC Advisory (Financial PR and IR)	www.investor-focus.co.uk
Tim Metcalfe / Graham Herring / Heather Armstrong	[phone]

Notes to Editors:

About Versarien

Versarien plc (AIM:VRS), is an advanced engineering materials group. Leveraging proprietary technology, the Group creates innovative engineering solutions for its clients in a diverse range of industries. Versarien has three subsidiaries:

Versarien Technologies Ltd owns the exclusive rights to a patent-protected additive process for creating advanced micro-porous metals targeting the thermal management industry and manufactures extruded aluminium heat sinks for the electronics and computing industries. www.versarien-technologies.co.uk 

Versarien Advanced Composites Limited has been established in order to progress the commercial application of graphene-enhanced composite products.

Total Carbide Ltd, a leading manufacturer in sintered tungsten carbide for applications in arduous environments such as the oil and gas industry. www.totalcarbide.com 

2-DTech Ltd., which specialises in the supply, characterisation and early stage development of graphene products.   www.2-dtech.com

 

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