Versarien sells South Korean plant, licenses patents

Versarien announced on Monday that it had finalised an agreement with MCK Tech to sell its plant and equipment in South Korea for £0.6m.

The AIM-traded firm said the deal, in line with its stated strategy, included the sale of assets and an exclusive licence agreement for the use of five patents owned by Versarien.

It said the transaction was a significant step in its ongoing turnaround strategy, which prioritises the divestment of non-core assets.

The Korean plant, acquired from Hanwha Aerospace in 2020, was identified as non-core and thus was put up for sale.

With the new agreement, Versarien concluded the process of selling that particular asset, while continuing to explore the sale of other non-core businesses and assets such as AAC Cyroma and Total Carbide.

The board said the proceeds from the transaction, totaling £0.604m, would be used for corporate and working capital needs.

Additionally, the company said it remained committed to seeking further funding solutions to support its turnaround strategy effectively.

Under the terms of the deal, MCK Tech had already paid an initial £60,400, with the remaining £543,600 to be paid in instalments, with £120,800 due 60 days after the agreement date, another £120,800 due 120 days after, and the final payment of £302,000 scheduled for 31 July.

Regarding the intellectual property aspect of the deal, Versarien said it had granted MCK Tech an exclusive licence to use five patents owned by the company for five years.

MCK Tech would pay Versarien 4.5% of the total sales revenue generated from products manufactured using the licensed patents.

However, if the sales revenue from the licensed patents remained below £0.25m over the initial two years, the licence would terminate, and MCK Tech would pay Versarien £40,000 for the use of the intellectual property.

“As previously outlined, Versarien's strategy is to be a manufacturing-light business in the UK and licence our patents, know-how and other intellectual property to key partners,” said chief executive officer Dr Stephen Hodge.

“In line with this strategy we are pleased that we have secured the sale of the Korean CVD graphene production equipment and licenced five patents to MCK Tech.

“MCK Tech is a well-respected company that has developed graphene-based sensors for healthcare.”

Dr Hodge described MCK's CEO, Dr Seungmin Cho, as “one of the pioneers” of CVD graphene in Korea, formerly working as group leader at Samsung Techwin and Hanwha Aerospace, before founding MCK Tech in 2017 as a joint venture with the Centre for Advanced Meta-Materials (CAMM) in Daejeon.

“We look forward to maintaining access to CVD graphene materials and supporting MCK Tech through collaborative efforts.”

At 1248 GMT, shares in Versarien were flat at 0.1p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.