Graphene industry takes further step towards commercialisation with Haydale IPO listing

March 19, 2014 - PRLog -- South Wales, UK (19th March 2014) - Haydale has announced plans to raise up to £10 million ($16.6 million) via an IPO on the UK's AIM. This is a demonstration of the financial confidence in the steps the industry, led by Haydale, is taking to commercialise graphene and to provide a functionally viable product. The AIM listing, scheduled to take place in April, will fund the operation and development of Haydale's proprietary plasma technology which overcomes a key barrier to the functionalisation of large scale production of Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNPs) and Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs).

Ray Gibbs, CEO at Haydale, said: “At Haydale we believe the properties and potential of graphene will be realised, and that whatever form the supply is, dispersing it properly to make a real improvement is the issue at hand. The investment through the planned AIM listing will contribute significantly to the development and progression of our enabling, proprietary plasma technology, which is capable of being tailored to produce a wide range of surface modifications; substantially improving compatibility between the nanomaterials and any matrix or binder material.”

Cairn Financial Advisers LLP is the nominated adviser and Hume Capital Securities plc the financial adviser and broker to the listing. The Group has raised approximately £4.4 million in funding from private investors since 2010. The money raised from the proposed IPO will be used to expand the company’s nanomaterial functionalisation operations and may also be used for acquisition purposes or to form strategic alliances.

Haydale’s HDPlas™ range of GNPs and CNTs are functionalised through a proprietary plasma process which does not use wet chemistry and allows the general material structures to be maintained. The process can reduce material impurities inherent in the raw material and can repair defects in the base material. The process can functionalise with a range of standard and exotic chemical groups, allowing Haydale to match a product with the most appropriate functionalisation to meet customer requirements.

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For technical press enquiries, please contact David Bertram, The Scott Partnership; +44 (0)1477 539539 mail to haydale@scottpr.com

For financial press enquiries, please contact Trevor Phillips, Media Relations Officer; +44 (0)7889 153628 mail to trevor.phillips@hermesfinancialpr.co.uk

Notes for Editors

About Graphene

Graphene is a form of carbon that exists as a sheet, one atom thick with its atoms arranged into a two-dimensional honeycomb structure.  It is at least 100 times stronger than steel; conducts electricity better than copper and has been suggested as a possible replacement for silicon in electronics.

About Haydale

Haydale is a global leader in facilitating the commercial application of graphenes. As an enabling technology, Haydale by working with both raw material suppliers and product manufacturers can provide a rapid and highly cost efficient method of supplying tailored solutions to enhance an application.

Haydale has patents pending for a low temperature plasma (under 100 deg C) process that overcomes a key barrier to the functionalisation of large scale production of Graphene Nano Platelets (GNPs) and Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs). The process can functionalise with a range of standard and exotic chemical groups (Fluorine is one such example), where the amount of chemicals can be tailored to the customer needs. Good dispersion optimises the properties and performance and ensures it delivers as specified.

In particular the Haydale plasma functionalisation process is capable of being tailored to produce a wide range of surface modifications, including chemical groups suitable for bonding or repelling specific chemicals. This process will substantially improve compatibility between the nanomaterials and any matrix or binder material.

The Haydale plasma process does not use wet chemistry, neither does it damage the material being processed, rather it can clean up impurities inherent in the raw material and may even repair some of the defects in the base material. The technology is a low energy user and most importantly environmentally friendly.  The Haydale method is an enabling technology where working with a raw material producer can add value to the base product and tailor the outputs to meet the target applications of the end user.

Now housed in a new facility for processing and handling nanomaterials with a lab facility, Haydale combined with a scalable technology, is facilitating the application of graphenes and other nanomaterials in fields such as inks, sensors, energy storage, photovoltaics, composites, paints and coatings.

www.haydale.com