Recent success stories including the IPO of portfolio company Circassia Pharmaceuticals has led Imperial Innovations to peruse a new fundraising.

The technology commercialisation company, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), will be placing in excess of 37 million ordinary shares.

Explaining the decision, chairman Martin Knight says that Imperial wants to attract more high-quality investment opportunities.

‘It will also improve our ability to support our portfolio companies from inception until maturity, as illustrated by the recent successful IPO of Circassia Pharmaceuticals,’ Knight adds.

‘We have identified opportunities to increase the capital deployed in a number of our leading portfolio companies which, in aggregate, are seeking to raise over £100 million from investors over the next 12 months.’

Imperial Innovations has a track record for commercialising academic work

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Through the new fundraising, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine will be selling sufficient shares to drop its stake from 30.2 per cent to 20 per cent.

Imperial says that three existing shareholders have agreed to acquire over 32 million of the shares, as well as an additional 7.5 million placing shares then available to new and other existing shareholders through a clawback mechanism.

With money in the bank, Imperial will then support portfolio companies, source investment opportunities in new technologies using its network and finance general corporate purposes.

For the year ending 31 July 2013, Imperial invested £22.2 million into 28 portfolio businesses alongside six new ventures. Imperial says its recent successes, as well as the IPO of Circassia which raised £200 million, include the admission of Oxford Immunotec Global to trading on NASDAQ and disposal of Respivert.