Tech firm in play as it starts formal moves regarding possible sale

Manchester-based tech firm Nanoco has started formal moves regarding a possible sale of the business.

Nanoco, a spin-out from Manchester University which develops materials used in the manufacture of monitors and TV screens, said today that it has entered into preliminary discussions with certain parties about a potential sale of the company.

It said it remains in active discussions with existing, and other potential new customers, for its materials and services with a particular focus on the display and infra-red sensing markets.

In addition, it said it is also reviewing other sources of funding.

The company’s current resources give reasonable headroom for the sale process and commercial opportunities to come to successful conclusions, with contingency plans in place if needed, it said.

Nanoco has appointed Evercore as its financial adviser to assist with the formal sale process and as independent financial adviser.

The business said it expects any party interested in participating in the formal sale process will, at the appropriate time, enter into a non-disclosure agreement with Nanoco on terms satisfactory to its board.

The company then intends to provide such interested parties with certain information on the business, following which interested parties will be invited to submit indicative proposals to Evercore. Nanoco currently expects such proposals to be submitted in mid-December.

It stressed that there can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer will be made.

It said the board of Nanoco also reserves the right to reject any approach or terminate discussions with any interested party at any time.

Last month Nanoco revealed it had achieved its best financial results, during the year to July 31.

Revenues doubled from £3.315m to £7.123m, while a pre-tax loss of £5.5m compared with a pre-tax loss of £7.4m a year ago.