Imperial Innovations Group Regulatory News (IVO)

11 Sep 2006 07:04

Imperial Innovations Group plc11 September 2006 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") Holding in Cronos Therapeutics Limited Imperial Innovations Group plc (Imperial Innovations), one of the leadingtechnology transfer and commercialisation companies in the UK, holds a 24.99%stake in biopharmaceutical company Cronos Therapeutics Limited ('Cronos'). AzureHoldings plc ('Azure'), an AIM-listed company, has today announced theacquisition of biopharmaceutical development company ValiRx Limited (ValiRx) bymeans of a reverse takeover, and subject to Admission, ValiRx will also acquire60.28 per cent. of the ordinary share capital of Cronos. Under the terms of thetransaction, Imperial Innovations will exchange its shareholding in Cronos for ashareholding of 5,716 ordinary shares in ValiRx, which in turn ImperialInnovations will exchange for a 7.94% shareholding in Azure. Cronos Cronos is a biopharmaceutical company established to develop a novel class oftherapeutics based on the unique and proprietary GeneICE platform. Cronos' loss before tax for the year ended March 31 2006 was £63,596 and grossassets as at 31 March 2006 were £169,969. Azure Azure's trading activities were terminated in January 2003 when its onlyremaining subsidiary went into creditors' voluntary liquidation. Upon completionof the transaction it is intended that the Company will become the holdingcompany for ValiRx. ValiRx ValiRx is a biopharmaceutical development company, which was incorporated on 1June 2006 with the intention of exploiting opportunities in the futurehealthcare, life sciences and biopharmaceutical industries. ValiRx is looking to acquire the rights to developmental products either intherapeutics, with a particular focus on developing products in thebio-pharmaceutical sector, or closely related diagnostics. Particulars of the transaction Azure has agreed, subject, inter alia, to Azure's shareholders approval, toacquire the entire issued share capital of ValiRx. The consideration for theacquisition is to be satisfied by the issue of 637,500,000 ordinary shares of0.2p ("Ordinary Shares") and additional consideration to be satisfied by afurther 150,000,000 Ordinary Shares. The acquisition will be classified as a reverse takeover under the AIM Rulesand, therefore, requires the approval of Azure's shareholders in general meetingand therefore completion of the transaction will be dependent upon approvalbeing obtained at an Extraordinary General Meeting to be held on 2 October 2006. It is expected that the new Ordinary Shares of Azure will be admitted to tradingon AIM. It is expected that trading will commence on 3 October 2006. Further details can be obtained from Azure's press release on RNS today. -Ends- For more information contact: Imperial Innovations Susan Searle (Chief Executive Officer) +44 (0)20 7594 6591 Lucy Ahfong (Marketing Communications Exec) +44 (0)20 7594 6644 M:Communications Patrick d'Ancona +44 (0)20 7153 1547 About Imperial Innovations Imperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology transfer andcommercialisation companies. The company was founded in 1986 and its ordinaryshares admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc inJuly 2006, raising £26 million. The company's integrated approach encompassesthe identification of ideas, protection of intellectual property, developmentand licensing of technology and formation, incubation and investment in spin-outcompanies. A wide range of technologies are commercialised within the areas ofbioscience and technology and engineering. Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in58 spin-out companies and has completed 90 commercial agreements. ImperialInnovations also commercialises technologies originating from outside ImperialCollege through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust and WRAP and hasrelationships with a number of multinational corporations. Imperial Innovations has invested in a range of companies including The AcrobotCompany Limited, Cardiak Limited, deltaDOT Limited, Future Waves PTE Limited,HeliSwirl Technologies Limited, InforSense Limited, Lontra Limited,NanoBiodesign Limited, Nexeon Limited, NovaThera Limited, Photobiotics Limitedand Veryan Medical Limited. Imperial Innovations currently holds shares in three spin-out companies nowlisted on AIM; fuel cell company, Ceres Power plc, and ParOS plc, a provider ofenergy-saving advanced control solutions, as well as Nanoscience plc, adeveloper of low power integrated circuits and silicon chips, following itsacquisition of spin-out company Toumaz Technology Limited. Website: www.imperialinnovations.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange