CIR.L Regulatory News (CIR)

13 March 2014

Imperial Innovations Group plc

Circassia announces offer price

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, "Innovations", "the Group") is pleased to note that its largest portfolio company, Circassia Pharmaceuticals ("Circassia" or "the Company"), has today announced the successful pricing of its IPO on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market.

Circassia is expected to raise gross proceeds of approximately £200m. The offer price has been set at 310p pence per Ordinary Share. Innovations has an interest in Circassia of 26,494,750 shares, which at the offer price is worth £82.1m at the start of conditional dealings in the shares at 8.00am today. This compares with a fair value of £45.1m at the Group's last reporting date of 31 July 2013.

Innovations has invested £25.5m in Circassia across four funding rounds since 2006. At the offer price the value represents a 3.2x return on cash invested and an IRR of 37%.

Trading on the main market and the commencement of unconditional dealings in Circassia shares are expected to take place at 8.00am on 18 March 2014.

Russ Cummings, Chief Executive Officer, Imperial Innovations, said:

"We are delighted by the market's reception to Circassia's IPO and the resources that the fund raising will bring to the business. The Company has developed a strong technology platform that addresses a large global market with unmet medical needs.

"The additional funds will allow Circassia to fulfil its potential by accelerating the commercialisation of its highly promising late-stage clinical pipeline.

"Circassia's IPO follows closely the listing of Oxford Immunotec on NASDAQ in November 2013 and IXICO on AIM in October 2013. These IPOs demonstrate the strength in depth of our maturing portfolio and also illustrate our business model, which is to build substantial, high quality, well-funded and well-managed businesses in which we retain a meaningful stake."

Enquiries:

Notes to editors

Circassia Therapeutics

Circassia is a clinical-stage specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of a range of immunotherapy products for the treatment of allergies such as cat, grass, house dust mite and ragweed.

Imperial Innovations - www.imperialinnovations.co.uk 

Imperial Innovations creates, builds and invests in pioneering technologies developed from the academic research of the UK's four leading Universities. The Group supports scientists and entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas and intellectual property by leading the formation of new companies, providing facilities in the early stages, providing investment and encouraging co-investment to accelerate development, providing operational expertise and recruiting high-calibre management teams. It also runs an Incubator in London that is the initial home for many of its technology spin-outs.

Originally formed as the Technology Transfer office for Imperial College - a role it still carries out today, Innovations also invests in opportunities arising from intellectual property developed at, or associated with, Cambridge University, Oxford University and University College London. These are the top four research intensive universities in Europe with a research income of over £1.3 billion per annum.

Innovations invests in the most promising opportunities from whichever technology sector they arise, but has built particular expertise in the key sectors of: therapeutics, medtech and devices, engineering and materials, and ICT.

Since listing on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") in 2006, the Group has invested a total of £160.9 million across 96 portfolio companies, which have raised collectively investment of over £571.9 million (prior to Circassia's IPO).

This announcement is an advertisement and not a prospectus and investors should not subscribe for or purchase any shares referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information in the prospectus (the "Prospectus") to be published by Circassia in due course in connection with the offer of its ordinary shares (the "Shares") and the proposed admission of its Shares to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority ("Official List") and to trading on the main market for listed securities (the "Main Market") of the London Stock Exchange plc (the "London Stock Exchange"). Copies of the Prospectus will, following publication, be available from http://www.circassia.co.uk/, subject to applicable securities laws, and at the company's registered office.