Strategic Partnership

27 Jul 2006 07:00

Angle PLC27 July 2006 For Immediate Release 27 July 2006 ANGLE plc ('ANGLE' or 'the Company') 20 year strategic partnership with The University of Reading ANGLE plc ('ANGLE'), the venture management and consulting company specialisingin the commercialisation of technology, is pleased to announce that it hassigned a 20 year strategic partnership with The University of Reading ('University'). Under the terms of the agreement, ANGLE has the exclusive right of first refusalto invest in all University intellectual property (IP) that is commercialised.Where ANGLE exercises this right, it will invest under a set formula obtainingan equity stake of 60% in each spin-out company for an investment of up to £0.5million. ANGLE will drive development of these ventures utilising itsproprietary Progeny(R) process. Additionally, ANGLE will receive a 15% share in all commercial returns fromUniversity IP, both licensing and spin-out, in which ANGLE does not invest. Inexchange, ANGLE will provide consultancy support to the University on IPcommercialisation. In total, ANGLE expects to invest at least £3.0 million over the first fiveyears of the agreement and expects that this will be funded from existingresources. The University has income of more than £150 million per annum and over 1,000academic staff. The most recent government Research Assessment Exercise ratedtwenty of its departments as 5 or 5*, denoting international excellence inresearch activity. This excellence is found in areas as diverse as climatephysics, fluid dynamics and food biosciences, the latter of which is ideallyplaced as the global market for functional foods grows towards an estimated $95billion per annum by 2010. In addition, the University's Instrumentation &Signal Processing Research Group and Cybernetic Intelligence Research Group bothpossess not only high international reputations but also strong histories ofproducing groundbreaking, commercial technologies. ANGLE is already workingwith the University to evaluate opportunities arising from these and otherareas. The University has a long tradition of being at the forefront of commercialactivities, as the first British university to integrate an industrial R&D groupon its campus; the first university to win the Queen's Award for ExportAchievement; the host to the UK's leading Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)Centre; the provider of one of the largest credit bearing entrepreneurshipteaching programmes in the UK; and the home of InnovationWorks@Reading, afacility for creative problem solving unique in the South East. Existingspin-out companies include Whitfield Solar, a developer of low-cost solar powersolutions that has recently joined the Carbon Trust's Incubator managed byANGLE. ANGLE's Director of New Ventures, Stephen Bence, said: "The University of Reading is a top rated research University with strength indepth through its technology base. We are delighted to have the opportunity towork with the University to commercialise its intellectual property over anextended period of time and look forward to some early successes." ANGLE's Group Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, added: "We are delighted to sign The University of Reading as ANGLE's first UKstrategic partnership. Establishing long-term relationships with owners ofimpressive intellectual property represents a new phase in ANGLE's strategicdevelopment. This ground-breaking deal is the first of a number of such dealsthat we expect to be able to announce over the next 18 months." David Savage, Director of Finance and Corporate Services at The University ofReading, said: "We have been approached by a number of IP commercialisation groups interestedin investing in the University's intellectual property but ANGLE offered aunique combination of consultancy expertise in identifying opportunities andproactive management of their development. We are confident that this strategicpartnership will deliver a step change in technology transfer from TheUniversity of Reading for the benefit of the UK economy." The University's Technology Transfer Manager, Sue O'Hare, added: "ANGLE's track record of successful spin-out companies and network ofexperienced and well-connected people are impressive. We are very excited by theopportunity to work closely with them to realise the potential of theUniversity's intellectual property and to maintain and develop the University'srecord of being at the leading edge." For further information ANGLE plc +44 1483 295830Andrew Newland, Chief ExecutiveStephen Bence, Director of New Ventures The University of Reading +44 118 935 7198Sue O'Hare, Technology Transfer Manager Buchanan Communications +44 20 7466 5000Richard Darby, Suzanne Brocks, James Strong, Amy Rajendran Note to editors: About ANGLE Founded in 1994, ANGLE is an international venture management and consultingcompany focusing on the commercialisation of technology and the development oftechnology-based industry. ANGLE creates, develops and advises technologybusinesses on its own behalf and for its clients. ANGLE operates from officesin the UK, the US and the Middle East. ANGLE is listed on AIM (AGL.L); further information can be found atwww.angleplc.com About The University of Reading The University of Reading is one of the top 20 research-intensive universitiesin the UK, with a world-wide reputation in the areas of environmentaltechnologies, agriculture, food biosciences, information and communicationstechnologies, construction management, and financial markets. The University iscommitted to achieving excellence in research, teaching and enterprise and totranslating its excellence into a major contribution to culture, economicwell-being and the quality of life. For more information, visit www.reading.ac.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange