£30m loan from EIB for healthcare investment

2 July 2013

Imperial Innovations Group plc

£30m, 12-year loan to Imperial Innovations from European Investment Bank for healthcare investment

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, "Innovations" or "the Group") has obtained a loan for a period of 12 years from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to invest in the biotech and therapeutics sectors.

The loan facility amounts to £30m and will be made in two tranches of £15m. The Group plans to draw down the first tranche shortly.

The funding is additional to Innovations' existing cash resources, which at the last published accounts in January 2013, amounted to over £60m. It will enable the Group to increase the rate and scale of its investment in both new technologies and existing portfolio companies in this space.

Susan Searle, Chief Executive Officer, Imperial Innovations, said:

"This loan gives us access to long term, committed capital on favourable terms. It is a clear endorsement from the EIB of the quality, maturity and breadth of our portfolio, reinforcing our reputation and leading position with potential portfolio companies in the UK biotech sector."

Nigel Pitchford, Managing Director, Healthcare Ventures at Innovations added:

"Biotech and therapeutics are key areas of focus and expertise for us. We are pleased to be able to increase our investment in the exciting new opportunities that we are seeing as well as in our existing portfolio companies."

Jonathan Taylor,European Investment Bank Vice President said:

"Imperial Innovations has set a benchmark for transforming cutting-edge research into commercially successful innovation. The £30m loan provided by the European Investment Bank for biotech and healthcare investment demonstrates our commitment to supporting leading innovation and research in globally competitive fields. We are pleased to support Imperial Innovations in helping new companies emerge and successfully exploit niche technologies".

Enquiries:

Notes to editors

Imperial Innovations - www.imperialinnovations.co.uk 

Innovations creates, builds and invests in pioneering university technologies addressing global problems in healthcare, energy, engineering and the environment. It combines deep understanding of science and technology with commercial acumen and strong investment expertise. Innovations acts as the Technology Transfer office for Imperial College, providing IP protection, licensing and business-building services. This gives it very early access to research outputs from this leading research university.

Innovations supports scientist-entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas by:

·; leading the formation of new companies and providing facilities in the early stages

·; providing significant investment and encouraging co-investment to accelerate the transition from R&D to products

·; providing operational expertise

·; helping to recruit high-calibre industry figures and experienced entrepreneurs as executive management and Board members

Innovations invests in companies based on technologies from or associated with four universities: Imperial College London, Cambridge University, Oxford University, and UCL, supported by collaborations with Cambridge Enterprise, OSEM and UCL Business. These are the UK's leading research intensive universities, measured by research income.

Innovations raised £140 million in January 2011. In the year to 31 July 2012, it invested £37.9 million (2011: £35.1 million) in 29 ventures, and made 11 investments in new companies.

In its current portfolio of 78 companies, Innovations' most advanced assets include Circassia, which develops innovative treatments for a wide range of allergies, and Nexeon, a battery materials and licensing company, which is developing silicon anodes to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries.