Imperial Innovations placing shares to fund investment opportunities

23rd Jun 2014 08:10

A total of £150m is the sum being targeted by AIM-listed Imperial Innovations, which on Monday launched the placing of 37.5m shares at 400p each.At the same time, the UK's Imperial College is trading in 2.56m shares at the same price, reducing its stake from 30.2% to 20%, taking the overall placing to 40.1m shares. The proceeds will used to support the group's portfolio companies, to source investment opportunities in new technologies and for general corporate purposes.Chairman Martin Knight said: "The strengthening of our balance sheet will greatly enhance our ability to attract high quality investment opportunities. It will also improve our ability to support our portfolio companies from inception until maturity, as illustrated by the recent successful initial public offering of Circassia Pharmaceuticals. By doing so, we will be able to take full advantage of the benefits of our long-term investment horizons and patient capital approach." "We have identified opportunities to increase the capital deployed in a number of our leading portfolio companies which, in aggregate, are seeking to raise over £100m from investors over the next 12 months."The majority of the shares will be taken up by three existing shareholders, who between them have agreed to acquire 32.56m. They have also conditionally agreed to purchase a further 7.5m shares, which will be available to new and other existing shareholders via a clawback mechanism. The share price had dropped 4.76% to 440.47p by 08:05.NR