Oxford Advanced Surfaces successfully lists on AIM via a reverse takeover
23 January 2008
Oxford Advanced Surfaces ("OAS"), a spin-out company of the University of Oxford, has listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), and has achieved a market capitalisation of £84.5 million.
OAS (AIM: OXA) raised £3 million at a subscription price of 25 pence per share to continue the commercialisation of its surface coating technology. The coatings are only a few molecules thick, but are able to modify the surface properties of a broad range of materials including polymers, glass, and even diamond.
Marcelo Bravo, CEO of OAS said: "We are delighted that OAS has successfully listed on AIM. We believe that admission to AIM and the funds available to OAS will provide an ideal platform for its future growth.
This year we will be progressing joint development agreements and proof of concept projects for OAS’s surface modification technologies with a number of companies worldwide.
At this stage, we are focussing on applications in electronics, advanced materials such as specialty fibres and composites, and life sciences, including sterile surfaces."
The coating technology is based on over ten years of research begun by Dr Mark Moloney and Dr Jon-Paul Griffiths in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford.
Dr Mark Moloney said: "We were initially interested in the difficulty in dye-ing plastics. We were able to solve that problem, but the solution these new surface materials provided proved to be far more general than we’d anticipated. We discovered that the technology could not only be used to dye things, but we could control the wetting and adhesion characteristics and disinfectant ability of surfaces."
Tom Hockaday, Managing Director of Isis Innovation said: "OAS is the eleventh Oxford spin-out to list on the public markets and an excellent example of the successful commercialisation of Oxford technology."
Isis Innovation is the University’s wholly-owned technology transfer company and holds granted patents and patent applications on OAS’s intellectual property rights. It has licensed these to OAS, which was spun out in 2006. OAS was the 62nd company to spin out of Oxford.
IP Group Plc, a first-round investor in OAS, now holds 15.7 per cent of OAS’s share capital.
The AIM listing took the form of a reverse takeover of Kanyon plc (AIM: KNYN) with trading commencing on 31st December 2007.
For further information:
Oxford Advanced Surfaces
Marcelo Bravo: +44 (0)1865 854 807
Notes for editors:
Isis Innovation is the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company. It provides researchers with commercial advice, funds patent applications and legal costs, negotiates exploitation and spin-out company agreements, and identifies and manages consultancy opportunities for University researchers. It is a subsidiary of the University of Oxford and has established itself as one of the best University technology transfer companies in the UK.
The Department of Chemistry at Oxford has contributed over £80 million to the University as a result of its spin-out activities. Actual realised gains from the departmental spin-outs come to more than £40 million, with about £20 million of unrealised gains in quoted companies, and a further batch of holdings in private companies.
IP Group is an intellectual property (IP) company that specialises in commercialising university technology. IP Group was founded in 2001, listed on the AIM Market in October 2003 and moved to the Official List of London Stock Exchange in June 2006. IP Group’s first university partnership was with the University of Oxford. In return for an investment of approximately £20 million, IP Group has acquired the right to 50 per cent of the University of Oxford’s equity in spin-out companies and technology licences based on intellectual property created at the Department of Chemistry until 2015. OAS was the ninth spin-out from the partnership.