Versarien raises £0.4m to progress growing pipeline

(Sharecast News) - Advanced materials engineer Versarien has raised £0.4m, it announced on Friday, to help it with its growing pipeline of opportunities. The AIM-traded firm said the funds were raised through a placing of 500 million new shares at a price of 0.08p each.

It said the net proceeds would be used for corporate and working capital purposes, as it aimed to seize opportunities within its expanding pipeline and advance its asset sales efforts.

The placing shares were issued within the existing authorities granted by shareholders during the general meeting held on 10 January.

Versarien said its use of the funds would primarily focus on capitalising on the increasing number of opportunities within its project pipeline.

Notable recent developments included a sales agreement with Go To Gym to introduce Graphene-Wear products in Colombia, Brazil, and the US, as well as a collaborative venture between Versarien's subsidiary Gnanomat and IRPC, a Thai petroleum and petrochemical company, to co-develop advanced materials.

Additionally, the company said it was actively marketing mature businesses and the intellectual property and plant acquired from Hanwha Aerospace in 2020 for potential sale.

Versarien said discussions with several interested parties were ongoing, although the timing and final proceeds from the asset sales remained uncertain.

"In the short time since the company update announced on 20 December, the commercial, licensing and grant opportunities have continued to grow," said chief executive officer Stephen Hodge.

"This further funding will help us to progress the conversion of these leads while the asset sale discussions continue.

"We look forward to updating the market in due course."

At 1221 GMT, shares in Versarien were down 42.33% at 0.09p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.