Business
Investment into Impression Tech & Sector Update
Investment into Impression Tech & Sector Update.
About this update from Mercia Asset Management Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 6623I Mercia Technologies PLC 21 June 2017 \n\n\n\n\n\nRNS\n\n\n21 June 2017\n\n\n\n\n \nMercia Technologies PLC\n(\"Mercia\", \"the Company\" or \"the Group\")\n \nMercia completes £1.5million follow on investment into Impression Technologies Ltd\n& \nElectronics, Materials & Manufacturing/Engineering sector update\n \nMercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC), the national investment group focused on the creation, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions, is pleased to announce that it has completed a £1.5million follow on investment into Impression Technologies Ltd (\"ITL\"). This investment is part of a £3.0million funding round with co-investor Touchstone Innovations plc and as a result, Mercia's interest in the share capital of ITL increases from 18.2% to 26.4%.\n \nBased in Coventry commercialising a novel forming process initially researched at the University of Birmingham and subsequently developed and spun out of Imperial College, ITL has a patented technology called Hot Form Quench (\"HFQ®\") for pressing strong, lightweight aluminium components for the automotive sector. Following the opening of the world's first HFQ® production facility in October 2016, the company is already supplying components to manufacturers including Aston Martin and Lotus Cars. ITL is also in discussions with a number of other global automotive brands. This investment will enable the company to scale up its commercial operations and progress its promising international customer pipeline. \n \nMercia nurtures companies within its managed funds before selectively investing directly from its own balance sheet into what it terms 'Emerging Stars'. The following paragraphs provide updates on the commercial progress of other companies in Mercia's Electronics, Materials & Manufacturing/Engineering investment sector, which in total represents approximately 20% of the Group's direct investment portfolio by value: \n \nsureCore, a provider of memory technology solutions for semiconductor applications and based in Sheffield, has recently launched a range of industry leading embedded low-power memory solutions for application in the rapidly growing wearable and Internet of Things markets. sureCore has developed a lo...