Proactiveinvestors United Kingdom

Imperial Innovations raises £140 mln to fund new investments

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:17:00 +0000

Imperial Innovations (LON:IVO) has secured a major fundraising to invest in new technology companies.

It has raised £140 million with a two-for-three rights issue.

With the new capital in hand the intellectual property (IP) commercialisation specialist plans to make more investments, with larger sizes.

"We have an excellent track record and operating model for establishing, funding, building and exiting growth businesses, based on intellectual property emanating from Imperial College London,” chairman Martin Knight said.

"Our proposed fund raising of £140 million will enable us to accelerate and increase the size of our investments in our portfolio companies.

“This will assist these companies to achieve their commercial goals more quickly and allow us to maintain or increase our equity holdings in such companies.”

Since its inception Imperial Innovations has had a strong relationship with Imperial College London. It has built a portfolio of investments in fledgling companies that are founded on the research conducted at the University.

Imperial Innovation now plans to invest in companies that are based on intellectual property from other universities - Oxford, Cambridge and University College London.

Knight added: "There is an acknowledged gap in the UK between scientific research and successful commercialisation.”

“We believe that working with the four leading UK research intensive universities and with additional funding, we can help to close this gap and deliver good returns for our shareholders."

Imperial Innovations ups stake in Plaxica and Nexeon

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:24:00 +0100

IP commercialisation specialist, Imperial Innovations Group (LON:IVO) has increased its investments in two of its existing portfolio companies, Plaxica and Nexeon. "These additional investments underline our confidence in Plaxica and Nexeon, which are increasingly important and valuable companies in our portfolio," Imperial Innovations Chief Exec Susan Searle said.

The company has invested a further £1.2m in Plaxica, which is currently developing an environmentally friendly alternative to oil-based plastic, based on next-generation biopolymer technology.

Using sustainable feedstock, Plaxica intends to manufacture a biopolymer, known as polylactic acid (PLA), in a more efficient way. “The goal is to commercialise a lower-cost but stronger and higher-quality polymer for use in applications as diverse as packaging, textiles, electronics and automobile parts,” Imperial Innovations stated.

Imperial Innovations’ investment formed part of a larger £3m fundraising. Between them, NESTA, Invesco Perpetual and the Carbon Trust collectively invested £1.8m. The funds have been earmarked to accelerate technology development and to scale up production.

Imperial Innovations' now owns 41.4%, (35.3% fully diluted) of Plaxica.

The company also increased its investment in Nexeon, which uses advanced materials to enhance rechargeable batteries. Imperial Innovations acquired a further 3.31% of the portfolio company, from Partnerships UK, to take its shareholding to 41.8% (35.0% fully diluted).

Imperial Innovations sells Respivert for £9.5 million

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:29:00 +0100

Imperial Innovations Group (LON:IVO) has sold its portfolio company Respivert to Centocor Ortho Biotech for £9.5 million, thus achieving a 4.7x return on Innovations’ three-year investment (ROI).

Respivert is a small molecule drug discovery company working towards the identification of new treatments for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and severe asthma.

Imperial Innovations has received £8.1 million in cash today with a further £1.4 million being held in escrow and will be released within 18 months. The company intends to use the proceeds for “investment purposes.”

After revenue-sharing payments of £0.2 million to Imperial College London, Innovations will report a profit of £7.2 million on the sale of its 13.4% stake in Respivert, compared with Respivert's carrying value of £2.0 million at 31 July 2009.

“The speed at which we have delivered this return demonstrates the strength of the Innovations model, which focuses on the rapid and profitable commercialisation of pioneering university research. Our first all-cash disposal, Respivert is our third significant exit and marks a turning point as our investments begin to generate substantial cash returns,” said Chief Executive of Imperial Innovations Susan Searle.

Respivert was founded by Dr Garth Rapeport, Dr Peter Strong and Dr John Murray, all former executives at FTSE 100 pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK), together with Professor Peter Barnes FRS and Dr Kazuhiro Ito from the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College London.

Imperial Innovations supported the formation of Respivert, provided laboratory space in its incubator and has invested £2 million since August 2007. Respivert made a loss of £3.7 million in full year 2008.

Back in March, Imperial Innovations sold its 20% owned partner company Membrane Extraction Technology (MET) German chemical manufacturer Evonik Industries AG for £4.5 million in cash with Imperial receiving a cash payment of £903,976. As at 31 July 2009, METs carrying value was £155,000.

Imperial Innovations partner MET sold to Evonik Industries for 4.5m

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:29:00 +0000

Imperial Innovations Group (AIM: IVO) said its partner company Membrane Extraction Technology (MET), in which it holds a 20 percent stake, was sold to to Evonik Industries AG, a privately-owned German chemical manufacturer, for £4.5m in cash. Imperial Innovations received a cash payment of 903,976, resulting in a net payment of £653,409 after deducting the Imperial College's share of the proceeds.

The synergies between MET and Evonik make a compelling case for this excellent deal, MET CEO Professor Andrew Livingston said.

MET was founded in 1995 by Livingston in association with Imperial Innovation. The business specialises in chemical separation, and its international operation supplies the pharmaceutical and fine chemicals industries. Imperial Innovations' 20% equity stake resulted from its founding stake when it established the company in 1995 and a 50,000 investment in 2008. Oxford Technology Venture Capital Trust and Citigroup Capital Ventures also had an equity stake in the business.

In its last financial year ended 31 July 2009, MET reported a profit of £11,102.

"MET is another good example of a trade sale of a business that has been built with a relatively modest amount of investment and highlights the success of our investment strategy, involving regular exits by our maturing companies, Imperial Innovation CEO Susan Searle commented.

In addition to the net proceeds, the company will also return its carrying value, in relation to MET, for reinvestment purposes. As at 31 July 2009, METs carrying value was £155,000.

Imperial Innovations invests further £2 million in drug stabilisation company PolyTherics

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:48:00 +0000

Imperial Innovations Group (AIM: IVO) has committed an additional £2 million to investee PolyTherics, to support the development of its technologies for protein and peptide based therapeutics. Co-investors Longbow Capital and The Capital Fund also participated combined £3m funding. Consequently Imperial Innovations will now own a 35% stake in PolyTherics.

According to Imperial Innovations modern drugs based on peptides and proteins may be unstable or cleared too quickly from the bloodstream, PolyTherics is developing ways to address these shortcomings. The PEGylation process, which combines certain biologics with Polyethylene glycol (PEG), stabilises drug molecules and increases their lifespan and duration, resulting in more effective treatment and less frequent dosing, the company said.

"PolyTherics' PEGylation technologies have the potential to make a significant impact on drug development in many different fields of healthcare. It is this kind of technology, addressing global needs, that we regard as a high priority for the substantial funding and support we can provide", Imperial Innovations CEO Susan Searle stated.

PolyTherics will continue to use the technology in-house and to license it out to biopharmaceutical companies. The company said it has made significant progress in licensing its technologies. The Sanofi Aventis unit Shantha Biotechnics has already licensed TheraPEG™ and the resulting therapeutic product is currently being developed for clinical trials. PolyTherics has also signed three separate product-partnerships with privately owned Celtic Pharma.

"The financial support that Innovations has given PolyTherics will enable us to realise the full commercial potential of our PEGylation technologies, both through our in-house programmes and through partnership with companies developing cost effective biopharmaceutical”, PolyTherics' CEO Keith Powell commented. The company’s patented PEGylation technique, TheraPEG™ has already proved to be a cost effective and scalable process, and two further platforms for targeted PEGylation, HiPEG™ and CyPEG, now give the PolyTherics the ability to adapt virtually any biologic drug candidate for therapeutic use, Imperial Innovations said.

Imperial Innovations has exclusive access to scientific and technological developments from London’s Imperial College, one of the world's leading research institutions. The IP company has a technology portfolio of more than 80 companies. Imperial Innovations' most advanced assets include power-generator innovation group Ceres Power (AIM: CWR) which floated on the AIM market in 2004, allergy treatment developer Circassia, rechargeable battery developer Nexeon, asthma treatment focused Respivert and VeryanMed.

Imperial Innovations grants exclusive IP license to Novartis for Meningitis B vaccine

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:49:00 +0000

Technology commercialisation and investment company Imperial Innovations Group (AIM: IVO) has entered into a licence agreement with Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis AG. Through the deal the drug-maker has acquired the exclusive worldwide licence to the intellectual property for a novel vaccine candidate against Meningitis B.

Imperial Innovations has received an upfront payment and is entitled to ongoing licence fees, success based milestones and royalties on product sales, although further financial details of the transactions were not disclosed. “If successful, such a product could provide a significant royalty stream to Imperial Innovations: it underlines our strategy of not only forming companies but also of partnering research with industry leaders to develop assets that address important markets", Imperial Innovations CEO Susan Searle commented.

Novartis’ Vaccines and Diagnostics division is developing the new vaccine candidate, which is based on the work of Professor Christoph Tang's research group at Imperial College London and collaborator Professor Susan Lea at Oxford University. The new vaccine candidate is currently in the preclinical stage of development.

"Meningitis B can be a devastating disease and there is an urgent need to create an effective vaccine against it”, Professor Tang said, “Results of our work to date gives us a clearer understanding of how meningococcal bacteria shield themselves from the immune system and has provided a route to tailor new vaccines to fight this important human pathogen."

Whilst vaccines against the Meningitis A and C strains are already commercially available, the Meningitis B strain, which accounts for around 90% of cases of the disease in the UK, is not addressed by current vaccines. This novel vaccine candidate has the potential to produce an enhanced immune response, which may confer greater protection against the disease than existing candidates currently in development, Imperial Innovation said.

As part of the deal, Novartis will also fund a £1 million research and development programme over two years at Imperial College London, Oxford University and the Health Protection Agency. The programme is aimed at the further validation of the new vaccine candidate in preclinical models.

Imperial Innovations has exclusive access to scientific and technological developments from London’s Imperial College, one of the world's leading research institutions. In the year to July 2009, Innovations invested £14.4 million in 20 ventures and helped launch six new companies.

The IP company has a technology portfolio of more than 80 companies. Imperial Innovations' most advanced assets include power-generator innovation group Ceres Power (AIM: CWR) which floated on the AIM market in 2004, allergy treatment developer Circassia, rechargeable battery developer Nexeon, asthma treatment focused Respivert and VeryanMed.

Imperial Innovations leads £1.95 million funding round for Cell Medica

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:59:00 +0100

Technology commercialization and investment business Imperial Innovations Group (AIM: IVO) said today it had made an investment of £1.16 million in cellular therapeutics company Cell Medica to help it develop and commercialise Virus-specific Immune Reconstitution cell therapy technique, aimed at protecting patients with weakened immune systems from cytomegalovirus infections, which are a major cause of mortality in this patient group.

The group led the £1.95 million funding round, which also included £0.79 million from private investors, bringing the total funds raised by Cell Medica to £4.5 million in equity and convertible debt investment capital.

“We believe Cell Medica has an important new approach to the treatment of many serious diseases and are confident that our funding and support will help it become a commercial success,” said Xhief Executive of Imperial Innovations Susan Searle.

Cell Medica was launched in 2007 with funding from Imperial Innovations and the Welcome Trust. The company is commercialising clinically proven cell therapy techniques, some of which were developed at Imperial College London.
Imperial Innovations committed £1.5 million to diagnostics devices maker Molecular Vision earlier this month, leading a £2 million funding round for the company.

Imperial Innovations commits £1.5 million to Molecular Vision’s research

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:25:00 +0100

Technology commercialization and investment company Imperial Innovations Group (AIM: IVO) said today it had led a £2 million funding round in start-up diagnostics devices maker Molecular Vision, which is developing a line of low-cost disposable devices for medical testing.

Imperial has contributed £1.5 million to bringing the total amount of funds raised by Molecular Vision to £3.2 million. Another shareholder Acrongenomics also participated in the round.

Imperial said its investment manager Maina Bhaman will join Molecular Vision’s board.

The devices currently under development are aimed at enabling practitioners to make on-the-spot diagnosis to cut down treatment costs. The patented technology also has potential to be suited for other markets including veterinary medicine, forensic science as well as environmental and military use, the company said in the statement.

The successful funding round is expected to bring Molecular Innovations closer to wrapping up the development and bringing the technology to the market.

“I am delighted at the continuing support shown by Imperial Innovations. Through this investment, we are now well placed to drive the company forward and bring our technology to market,” said Molecular Vision Chairman Peter Woodford.