Ilika raising £4m to help fund Stereax cell commercialisation

Advanced solid-state battery technology and materials innovation company Ilika announced a placing of new ordinary shares at a price of 20p each on Wednesday, to raise gross proceeds of no less than £4m.

The AIM-traded firm said the placing shares would represent at least 25.8% of the company’s existing issued share capital, with the placing price representing a discount of about 13% to the closing mid-market price of 23p each on 10 July.

It said it also intended to raise up to around £1m through the issue of 5,058,240 new ordinary shares pursuant to an open offer, to allow Ilika shareholders who were not participating in the placing to subscribe for new ordinary shares at the placing price.

Ilika said it had been approached by “a number” of commercial partners interested in collaborating with it to develop larger capacity batteries, suitable for use in consumer electronics, domestic storage of energy and electric powered vehicles codenamed ‘Project Goliath’.

Following the offer of grant funding pursuant to the Faraday Challenge automotive collaborations, Ilika said it had now extended its commercialisation roadmap to include large format ‘Stereax’ cells for automotive power, and now intended to build a new pre-pilot production line.

The proceeds of the placing, together with the associated offer of funding grants received from Innovate UK, were expected to be utilised for pre-pilot plant capital expenditure for Project Goliath of £1.6m; Project Goliath operational costs of £1.5m; capital expenditure of £0.2m; and £3m for general working capital purposes.

Ilika’s board said it believed that the funds raised from the placing, together with its funding grants, would provide sufficient working capital for the company to fund its operations until at least the end of 2019.

“It is an exciting time for the company as it extends its commercialisation roadmap to include large format Stereax cells for automotive power through the construction of a new pre-pilot production line,” said Ilika chief executive Graeme Purdy.

“This placing will also support the work we are carrying out with a number of interested parties surrounding our Stereax thin film batteries, with a view to entering into licence agreements.

“The directors believe that the funds raised from the placing together with the company's funding grants will position the company well to commercialise the intellectual property developed to date and lead interested commercial partners to the table to discuss licensing terms.”