Inkemia IUCT Group prepares €2.5 millions capital increase
The Catalan biotechnology group is taking this step three months after going public on the Alternative Stock Market with the aim of furthering their internationalization process.
By Biocat
Inkemia IUCT Group will open a capital increase of between €2 and €2.5 millions to strengthen their presence in new emerging and consolidated markets like France and the United States —they currently have agreements with companies in Japan, Brazil, Argentina and Poland— and to devote additional resources to the IUCT Emprèn Knowledge Capital Fund to launch new spin-offs and purchase stock in companies that generate synergies with the group’s activities.
The international expansion model the company employs, as Inkemia Executive President Dr. Josep Castells explained in an interview with Biocat, will be "through subsidiaries and with partners. Each country and moment will be different. Being on the Alternative Stock Market (MAB) generates more resources and has allowed us to rethink a more direct presence, creating a company with local partners and contributing capital or opening a subsidiary with our own structure."
The Catalan group has opted for this capital increase after achieving the goals established by the MAB: to double the number of shareholders —49% is held by Escola Sant Gervasi and 35% by the company’s researchers and professionals—, being the third most liquid stock on the MAB in 2013 and seeing a 10% increase in stock price since the IPO.
Inkemia IUCT Group is the second Catalan biotechnology company to go public on the MAB, after AB-Biotics. Their activity, which employs a team of 44 workers and 200 collaborators, is structured into three units: IUCT SA (knowledge division), IUCT Emprèn SL (entrepreneurship and venture capital division) and IUCT Espais SL (facilities division). The company saw non-financial revenue of €4.8 millions in 2011, up 23% from the previous year.
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