Last checked at 8 Oct 2013 07:00
8 October 2013
AFC Energy PLC
("AFC Energy" or the "Company")
AFC Energy participates in Waste2Tricity fundraise
Investment demonstrates AFC Energy's continued support for partners' energy-from-waste projects as Waste2Tricity raises £1 million
AFC Energy (AIM: AFC), the fuel cell energy developer for industry, is pleased to announce that it has participated in a £1 million funding round in Waste2Tricity Ltd. ("W2T"), a solutions provider for the waste-to-energy sector, in which AFC Energy owns a 23% stake. AFC Energy committed £50,000 in an oversubscribed round which included existing and new investors as well as board directors of W2T.
Waste2Tricity works with clients and partners to develop, fund and support energy-from-waste ("EfW") deployment projects where there are great environmental and commercial benefits from treating waste as a feedstock resource, rather than as a problem to be buried in landfill or burned in incinerators. W2T is involved in developing a number of these projects which, if successfully brought to fruition, could offer AFC Energy an exciting opportunity in the medium term once volume production has commenced.
AFC Energy has been a partner of W2T since the Company took a 25% stake in W2T in June 2009. In April 2012 W2T exercised its right to exclusively represent AFC Energy in the UK until 2022 for the integration of fuel cells with hydrogen derived from the plasma gasification of municipal solid waste. As part of the agreement AFC Energy will receive an initial fee of £1 million over a period of four years, of which £0.2 million has already been received.
AFC Energy's participation in this round of funding demonstrates the Company's continued support for W2T. Following the completed fundraise W2T is valued at approximately £10 million, which values AFC Energy's stake at £2.3 million.
The raised funds will provide working capital for W2T to continue its ongoing projects while aggressively pursuing its strategy to create opportunities for the deployment of AFC Energy's fuel cell technology and be one of the first large scale operators of AFC Energy fuel cells. AFC Energy will continue to work with W2T to target and develop EfW opportunities as they arise.
Ian Williamson, Chief Executive of AFC Energy plc, said: "Our continued support of W2T will help open up potentially lucrative opportunities for our low cost fuel cells to be utilised within the energy-from-waste sector. Part of AFC Energy's long term strategy is to licence our technology in a variety of applicable sectors and we look forward to continuing our work with W2T with the goal of generating electricity from domestic and commercial waste."
Shareholders at W2T include Roman Abramovich's Ervington Investments, who hold a 9% stake following their investment in November 2012, and who also own a 11.2 % stake in AFC Energy.
For further information please contact:
AFC Energy plc Ian Williamson, Chief Executive Ian Balchin, Deputy Chairman Jane Dumeresque, Finance Director & Company Secretary
| +44 (0)1483 276726 |
Luther Pendragon - Public Relations Adviser Neil Thapar Alexis Gore James Foster
| +44 (0)20 7618 9100 |
Peat & Co. - Corporate Broker Charlie Peat
| +44 (0)20 7104 2334 |
Allenby Capital Limited - AIM Nominated Adviser Jeremy Porter James Reeve | +44 (0)20 3328 5656 |
About AFC Energy
Founded in 2006, AFC Energy plc is re-engineering proven alkaline fuel cell technology to reduce the cost of electricity. Alkaline fuel cells have been used on US and Russian manned space missions for decades to provide electrical power and drinking water. By using platinum free, advanced materials, design tools and manufacturing processes at scale, AFC Energy is developing fuel cells that will compete with conventional technologies such as turbines for electrical power generation. Today, AFC Energy is pursuing opportunities in several sectors where hydrogen is readily available including the chlorine, clean coal and waste-to-energy industries as well as applications for distributed/back-up power. For further information, please visit our website: www.afcenergy.com.
About Waste2Tricity
Waste2Tricity is a British venture established to implement the most efficient energy conversion process available - by implementing a unique combination of AFC Energy's new generation alkaline fuel cells with Alter NRG's plasma gasification and other existing proven technologies. The system will therefore have significant environmental and cost benefits over other methods of electricity generation. Waste2Tricity are Alter NRG's sales representative in the UK for waste derived applications of this technology. For more information, visit Waste2Tricity at www.waste2tricity.com.