Spin-out specialist Fusion in deal with IP Group
YORKSHIRE university spin-out specialist Fusion IP has announced a deal which sees national player IP Group taking a near 20% stake in the business.
IP Group, the UK leader in commercialising university intellectual property, has invested £3.2m in Sheffield-based Fusion IP for a 19.8% shareholding.
The move will see the two groups cooperating closely to combine their knowledge and resources to develop new portfolio companies from Britain’s universities.
London-based IP Group has stakes in a portfolio of 65 companies which include quoted Yorkshire companies Avacta and Tracsis as well as University of Leeds spin-out Xeros, which is developing a washing machine product, and Tissue Regenix, which is developing tissue-repair technology.
IP Group will have the right to acquire a 20% shareholding in any new Fusion portfolio company for £500,000 in cash from its existing agreements with Sheffield and Cardiff universities and IP Group will appoint a representative to the board of Fusion.
David Baynes, chief executive of Fusion IP, said: “We are delighted to be working with IP Group and welcome them, both as a new shareholder in Fusion and a co-investment partner. Their investment, combined with the strength of our IP pipelines, will enable us to continue to create long term value from Cardiff and Sheffield’s world class research.
“Fusion currently has a strong portfolio of 20 active spin-out investments, including successful companies such as Simcyp which has reported its fifth consecutive year of both revenue and profit growth, with revenues up by 24% to £3.9m and profits up by 26% to £1.2m this year alone. We are expecting to spin-out up to three new companies during the period ending July 2010 and anticipate spinning out further companies in 2011 and 2012.
“The funds raised today, combined with our existing strong relationship with Finance Wales, will allow us to continue this momentum to spin out further high quality portfolio companies.”
Alan Aubrey, chief executive of IP Group, said: “We are very pleased to have agreed this proposed strategic investment in Fusion. We have a high regard for the Fusion management team and the portfolio which they have established from the exclusive framework agreements which Fusion has with the Universities of Sheffield and Cardiff, two of the leading research universities in the UK. We look forward to working together with the Fusion team.”
