Investment part of wider funding round for methane capture sewage-to-energy company
Low Carbon Accelerator Limited ("LCA" or "the Company") has announced that it has committed a further £750,000 for investment in Eco-Solids International ("Eco-Solids"). LCA has an existing 45% equity take in Eco-Solids following its initial investments of, in aggregate, £850,000.
Up to £500,000 will be provided as a convertible loan to be drawn down on a monthly basis at the discretion of LCA. The balance of £250,000 is being provided as a loan facility to fund the installation of lease commercial systems, where firm customer contracts have been agreed.
The funding from LCA is part of a proposed wider third party financing round for Eco-Solids for marketing and product development of its two groundbreaking technologies, set out in more detail below. The loan note terms provide for conversion following completion of the wider third party funding round.
The investment from LCA has enabled Eco-Solids to strengthen its management team with two experienced executives in order to accelerate the growth of sales and the commercial development of Eco-Solids. Kevin Breen joins as Chief Executive Officer and John Carolin as Chief Operating Officer. Clive Rigden retains the role of Executive Chairman.
Kevin Breen was formerly CEO of the LSE-quoted firm City Technology plc, a management buy-out from City University, which was acquired by the FTSE-listed First Technology PLC in 2000 for £100 million. He joined the board of First Technology to run their gas sensing businesses and was a key part of the Executive team that sold First Technology to Honeywell for £300 million in 2006. Prior to that he held several senior management roles in the Halma Group PLC. He has extensive experience of running and growing technology businesses organically and by acquisition, and of rolling out sophisticated products into international markets.
John Carolin has had 24 years of diverse, international management experience in the chemicals industry with the BOC Group plc and latterly Linde AG. During the last four years, as Global Director of Sustainable Energy with BOC and then Head of Energy Innovation with Linde, he was responsible for the building of a portfolio of new sustainable energy businesses. During this time he was also a non-executive director of several energy technology development companies and was a member of the advisory board of a Canadian venture capital group, Chrysalix Energy Limited Partnership
(CELP I).
In addition, Simon Hunt, Chairman of IPSO Ventures and Chairman of GEM Bio-Fuels, will join as a non-executive Director. Simon has extensive fund-raising and public company experience.
The Company's two groundbreaking technologies are the ES-PROCESS and CELLRUPTOR. The first, CELLRUPTOR (formerly known as Bug Buster) is a highly efficient cell disintegration technology which is used as a cost-effective pre-treatment technology to enhance the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, generating significantly more methane from waste treatments than other technologies. It can also be applied to other markets, such as food waste and paper pulp processing.
The second, the ES-PROCESS, is an efficient and cost-effective advanced lime-stabilisation process for treating sewage sludge and other industrial wastes to destroy all pathogens, with the resulting output able to be used as renewable construction materials such as blocks and aggregate. Markets in the developed world include traditional water and waste utilities, but additional opportunities are expected in the developing world as demand for better sanitation and water-saving treatments become important and economic.
Eco-Solids' CELLRUPTOR technology can also be applied to the efficient disruption of oil-bearing micro-algae. This novel approach should enable biofuel extraction processes to remove the oil from micro-algae quickly and more efficiently than other methods being trialled.
Eco-Solids has developed a strong sales pipeline for both products, initially in the UK. It has also developed a new technology for treating landfill leachate and secured its first sale in the Philippines. Further sales are expected in the Philippines as a result. Eco-Solids intends to quickly secure orders from its existing prospect base and, with some of the new funding from LCA, begin to extend its sales efforts into appropriate new territories.
Dr Steve Mahon, Chief Investment Officer for LCA and board member of Eco-Solids said: "The technologies and processes developed by Eco-Solids have a wide range of applications across several industries. With a strengthened management team and extra finance in place, Eco-Solids is well poised to exploit its targeted market opportunities across the globe."
About Low Carbon Accelerator: www.lowcarbon.gg
Low Carbon Accelerator Limited is a closed ended investment company created to invest in a portfolio of fast-growing low carbon businesses. The Company listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange on 11 October 2006, raising £44.5 million.
The Company's investment objective is to provide shareholders with an attractive return on their investment primarily through significant minority (predominately 25% and above) holdings in a diverse portfolio of unquoted private companies providing low carbon products and services.
The Company will initially invest principally in companies based in the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and California which provide low carbon products and services across the following sectors:
Buildings (sustainable building materials, heating, lighting, clean air and water technologies for industrial, commercial and/or residential use) Fuels (bio-fuels, low carbon fuels, catalysts and additives) Energy efficiency (reductions in energy inputs at source, improved conversion and reductions at point of use)
Energy generation (sustainable and clean energy, micro and distributed generation)
The Company's investment strategy is to target trading businesses with patentable technologies and products with a clear commercial application and the opportunity to gain a large market share of a new or expanding market. The Company focuses on businesses with experienced management teams who have developed commercially viable products providing easily adoptable solutions which deliver immediate reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
For more information on Low Carbon Accelerator and our other clients, please visit: www.carboninternational.com