Hi

can't see a thread yet for this one apologies if one already exists.

Anyone got any views, seems like a good long term bet to me.

article nabbed from FT.com

R



IP2IPO set for Aim with 112m tag
By Peter John
Published: October 11 2003 5:00 | Last Updated: October 11 2003 5:00

IP2IPO, a business set up to make money from university research, raised its first 30m from outside investors yesterday by placing 11.5m shares at 275p each.


The placing price indicated that the intellectual property group - run by David Norwood, the chess grandmaster - would have a market value of 112m when trading on Aim begins on Wednesday.

The company said the placing had been three times subscribed by institutions and the group had raised 5m more than it originally intended.

IP2IPO - which stands for intellectual property to initial public offering - was set up two years ago after stockbroker Beeson Gregory - later taken over by Evolution - approached the chemistry department at Oxford University and offered to help set up companies for research breakthroughs with commercial potential.

It has added Southampton University, Kings College London (which includes teams at Guy's and St Bartholomew's hospitals) and the botany department at the University of York.

It has 14 "seed tray" companies and expects to start spinning them out either by floating or selling to trade buyers from next year, as well as licensing the products of schemes to small companies in return for royalties.

There are hopes that the flotation could provide fresh evidence that the market for initial public offerings is starting to recover after several grim years.

Evolution believes there is growing investor interest in university spin-outs. Wolfson Microelectronics, a spin-off from Edinburgh University, has just priced the largest technology IPO in almost three years and other groups have been set up to tap the potential of research.

FT Comment

* While it is arguable that public service should be its own reward, easier access to capital for medical research sounds like a good idea. But even successfultechnologies do not always lead to guaranteed business successes. Investors with even the shortish memories will remember the dotcom incubators that sprang up and disappeared. Those with longer memories will remember the biotech boom of the early 90s, when a company with no profits but a promised cure for cancer almost joined the FTSE 100 before crashing back to earth. That said, IP2IPO is only burning 100,000 a month - a pittance compared with traditional biotech start-ups - and expects to cover its operational costs within 18 months. With more than 30m in the kitty it should not need to come back to the market. But as the company points out itself, its business model is unproven. This is not one for the risk-averse.

I'll be leaving this one for now, all my long term capital is tied up.
Maybe they'll fall back slowly overtime until some of the new technology/patents start bringing in cash...I haven't had time to look at them in detail (another reason why I'm not in)

A good long term bet though and probably not as risky as it looks. Although the 25 year time horizon seems a bit pessimistic, I'll look in again in 23 years time!