July 20, 2005 — The Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange is proving a popular spot for nano-related companies this summer.

Oxonica plc, an Oxfordshire, England, nanomaterials developer, placed shares on the AIM today. It is the second nano-related firm to do so this month.

Oxonica raised about $12.4 million after expenses by placing 8,658,796 new shares. In addition, shareholders converted loans of about $3.5 million into shares. The lead investors in the placing were Richard Farleigh, Foresight 2 VCT plc, and Stagecoach Group plc.

The company was spun out of the University of Oxford in 1999 to commercialize nanomaterial-related intellectual property developed by Peter Dobson and Gareth Wakefield. It has had recent success with its Envirox fuel nanocatalyst, which has been adopted by bus operator Stagecoach UK, as well as its Optisol UV absorber, which is used by Boots PLC in its Soltan Facial Sun Defense Cream.

Oxonica, which is selling about 23 percent of its stock, will have a market capitalization of about $61.5 million.

The company said the proceeds of the IPO will be used for financing the development, operations and marketing of its products, for funding regulatory and product testing requirements, and for further funding of R&D and its new product pipeline.

Earlier this month Polyfuel, a Mountain View, Calif., developer of fuel cell membranes, placed shares on the AIM, where it raised about $14 million.

— David Forman