Tekcapital plc
("Tekcapital" or the "Company")
Placing to raise approximately $1.15 million
Tekcapital plc, (AIM: TEK) the UK intellectual property investment group focused on creating marketplace value from university technology, announces today the successful placing of 11,698,335 new ordinary shares of 0.4 pence each in the Company (the "New Ordinary Shares"), at 7.5 pence per share, to raise $1.15m (£0.9 million) to fund investment in key activities and to further develop and progress with the commercialisation of its portfolio of IP technologies and for working capital purposes (the "Placing").
Key Highlights:
· Placing of 11,698,335 New Ordinary Shares at 7.5 pence each to raise approximately $1.15m (£0.9 million) before expenses
· Proceeds to be used to further develop and progress with the commercialisation of its portfolio of IP technologies
· Support from new investors
Background to the Placing and use of proceeds
Tekcapital is a unique intellectual property ("IP") investment and services company, specialising in the acquisition and commercialisation of technologies developed throughout a global university network of over 4,500 institutions in 160 different countries. This allows visibility of a large amount of the world's university developed IP available for acquisition, whereby through leveraging its extensive network of scientific advisors, who are able to assist in selecting and evaluating IP opportunities, Tekcapital is able to mitigate against adverse selection. In addition to the Company's University IP investment activities, the Company provides specialist services for organisations that want to acquire University IP for licensing, or to hire tech transfer expertise, in addition to providing bespoke training programs for a variety of public and private sector clients. Having demonstrated growth in Latin America, the Company believes further expansion opportunities exist in this market.
A significant amount of the Placing will be utilised to expand Tekcapital's commercialisation of their investment portfolio of businesses. The Company believes that there is considerable value to be realised from the portfolio of patent rights, and is continuing to further commercialise these operations. The Company's portfolio of investments includes:
· Belluscura plc, of which Tekcapital now owns 33.0%, and in H1 2018 reported continued progress within its advanced portable oxygen concentrator ("POC") program. Belluscara is a medical device company that acquires non-core assets from leading medical device companies and research institutions with a capable and highly experienced management. The global POC market is projected to reach a value of US$1.7bn in 2022.
· Lucyd ltd, which is wholly owned by Tekcapital, sells innovative smart-glasses, regular spectacles and also own exclusive license to 13 patents and one patent application for Augmented Reality ("AR") glasses. In H1 2018 Lucyd completed a Token Generation event to secure approximately $6.0m in funds, which it intends to use for the development of AR glasses. Lucyd recently launched an online store featuring latest technologies and trends in eyewear, including Lucyd-developed smartglasses, designer frames, and other innovations in spectacles.
· Salarius ltd, of which Tekcapital owns 97.5%, with the remaining 2.5% recently purchased by Victor Manzanilla, the new CEO of Salarius. Salarius holds a patented process for producing Nano-particle sized salt crystals, which can reduce sodium consumption by up to 50.0%. Salarius's aim is to commercialise this low-sodium Microsalt (TM) to improve the nutritional value of foods, through both a low-sodium table salt and a reduced sodium snack brand.
The Company will use the additional proceeds of the Placing for working capital purposes, to invest in key activities, and to further develop and progress with the commercialisation of its portfolio of IP technologies.
Details of the Placing
finnCap Ltd is acting as the Company's nominated adviser and joint broker with Novum Securities Limited in connection with the Placing.
The Placing is subject to certain Terms and Conditions. The Placing is not underwritten.
The Placing comprises 11,698,335 New Ordinary Shares. The New Ordinary Shares have been placed at the Placing Price with new investors. The Placing as a whole will raise proceeds of $1.15 million (£0.9 million), before expenses, for the Company. The New Ordinary Shares will represent approximately 22 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital.
The New Ordinary Shares will be in registered form and capable of being held in certificated form or uncertificated form in CREST. The Placing is conditional upon the Placing Agreement becoming unconditional and Admission by no later than 8.00 a.m. on 16 October 2018 (or such time and date as the Company, finnCap and Novum may agree, being not later than 25 October 2018). The Placing is not being underwritten by either finnCap or Novum.
Application for Admission
Application will be made for the New Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission is expected to become effective on or around 16 October 2018 ("Admission"). All 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 immediately following Admission will therefore be 54,353,042.
Cliff Gross PH.D, Chief Executive Officer of Tekcapital plc commented:
"I am pleased to announce the successful conclusion of this fundraise with support from new shareholders. The proceeds from the Placing will enable Tekcapital to continue its growth objectives and deliver further value to shareholders"
For further information please contact:
Tekcapital plc Clifford M Gross, Ph.D |
Via Walbrook PR |
finnCap Ltd (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) |
+44 (0) 20 7220 0500 |
Geoff Nash (Corporate Finance) |
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Max Bullen-Smith (Corporate Finance) |
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Camille Gochez (ECM) |
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Novum Securities (Joint Broker) Colin Rowbury |
+44 (0) 29 7399 9427 |
Walbrook PR Ltd |
+44 (0) 20 7933 8780 |
Paul Cornelius / Nick Rome / Sam Allen |
[email protected] |
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Tekcapital plc - The World's Largest University Network for Open Innovation
Tekcapital's objective is to create value from investing in new, university-developed intellectual properties. Additionally, using its proprietary discovery search engine, linked to 4,500+ universities in 160 countries, coupled with expert scientific review, Tekcapital provides a range of IP investment services to make it easy for organisations to find, evaluate, acquire and license university-developed technology. Tekcapital plc is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: symbol TEK) and is headquartered in Oxford, in the UK. For more information, please visit www.tekcapital.com
This Announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 ("MAR"). In addition, market soundings (as defined in MAR) were taken in respect of the Placing with the result that certain persons became aware of inside information (as defined in MAR), as permitted by MAR. This inside information is set out in this Announcement. Therefore, those persons that received inside information in a market sounding are no longer in possession of such inside information relating to the Company and its securities.
