Mercia Technologies PLC Investment in Oxford Genetics Limited
27 October 2016 - 5:01PM
RNS Non-Regulatory
TIDMMERC
Mercia Technologies PLC
27 October 2016
27 October 2016
Mercia Technologies PLC
("Mercia" or "the Company")
Investment in Oxford Genetics Limited
Mercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC), which is focused on the
creation, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses
with high growth potential from the UK regions, is pleased to
announce a follow-on investment of GBP1.0million into Oxford
Genetics Limited 'Oxford Genetics', a synthetic biology company
with significant expertise in DNA design. The investment follows
the recent expansion of Oxford Genetics' Board and its relocation
to new, state-of-the-art facilities at Oxford Science Park.
Oxford Genetics first received seed investment via Mercia's
third party managed funds in 2013 as a founding investor before
transitioning it to Mercia's direct investment portfolio of
'Emerging Stars' in December 2015. Mercia has now invested
GBP2.2million to date and holds 47.2% of the total issued share
capital. This further capital support will enable Oxford Genetics
to continue licensing its proprietary technology, SnapFast(TM),
which makes DNA assembly significantly more efficient for research
and production purposes within the rapidly expanding markets of
Cell and Gene Therapy.
The company has recently appointed three new Board members to
strengthen its position as one of the global leaders in DNA design.
Dr David Hames, the highly experienced Non-executive Director,
joins as Chairman and Dr Matt Baker joins as a Non-executive
Director. Matt was formerly the Founder of Antitope, which now
forms part of Abzena plc, a Mercia portfolio company that listed on
AIM in July 2014. Finally, Dr Paul Brookes has been appointed as
Commercial Director. Paul was formerly Global Marketing Manager for
Sigma-Aldrich in the USA.
As part of their growth strategy, Oxford Genetics has also
relocated to new facilities at Oxford Science Park. These
start-of-the art facilities include dedicated cell development
suites and new technology capable of automating certain processes,
allowing the company to scale its services in line with increasing
demand from new and existing customers.
Ryan Cawood, CEO of Oxford Genetics, said:
"We are delighted to receive this continued support from Mercia,
which follows a period of sustained growth for Oxford Genetics. The
company has expanded significantly in the last year, and is now
looking to reinforce its position as an important player in DNA
design, protein expression and virus & cell line
engineering."
Dr Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia Technologies PLC, said:
"Synthetic biology is a key sub-sector for Mercia and we are
pleased to be able to make a further investment in Oxford Genetics
as it moves into a pivotal stage of its DNA design development. We
are confident that with our support Oxford Genetics will continue
to scale becoming what we believe will be a global provider of
synthetic biology solutions, in what is a very attractive and
growing market."
For further information, please contact:
Mercia Technologies PLC
Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer
Martin Glanfield, Chief Financial Officer
www.merciatechnologies.com +44 (0)330 223 1430
Cenkos Securities plc
Ivonne Cantu / Mark Connelly (NOMAD) +44 (0)20 7397 8900
Buchanan
Sophie McNulty, Victoria Hayns, Stephanie Watson
www.buchanan.uk.com +44 (0)20 7466 5000
About Mercia
Mercia is a national investment group focused on the creation,
funding and scaling of innovative businesses with high growth
potential from the UK regions. Mercia employs 60 people across six
offices and it has one of the largest university networks in the UK
with 18 university partnerships across the Midlands, the North of
England and Scotland. These partnerships provide access to high
quality, regional deal flow which accounts for approximately one
third of Mercia's investments.
Mercia's 'Complete Capital Solution' enables it to scale
businesses via its third party funds (with more than
GBP220.0million under management) and then over time Mercia
identifies its 'Emerging Stars' which it can provide further
capital to using its own balance sheet. Mercia focuses on sourcing
and scaling businesses across four sectors: Digital & Digital
Entertainment; Life Sciences and Bio-sciences; Software & the
Internet and; Electronics, Materials &
Manufacturing/Engineering.
In a recent report (Source: Beauhurst, The Deal, 2015/16),
Mercia was found to be the fifth most active investor in the UK and
the fourth most active in technology. Since its IPO in December
2014, the Company continues to seek early stage third party
investment opportunities and it has directly invested over
GBP24.0million across its portfolio of 'Emerging Stars'. In
addition to providing its direct investments with the required
capital, Mercia also supports the management teams to build towards
exits that will realise incremental value for Mercia shareholders
over the medium term.
The Mercia Group comprises Mercia Technologies PLC, Mercia Fund
Management Ltd and Enterprise Ventures Group Ltd. Mercia is quoted
on AIM with the epic "MERC".
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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