Fuel Cell Maker Scraps IPO
Date: 10-Jun-04
Country: UK
"We have concluded that our shareholder interests would not be best served by proceeding with flotation in current market conditions," Chief Executive Harry Bradbury said in a statement on Tuesday.
Intelligent Energy had planned to raise up to 60 million pounds from the sale of new and existing shares in an initial public offering (IPO) on London's junior AIM market this month, valuing the firm at about 200 million pounds.
Intelligent Energy's decision to postpone -- confirming a Reuters report on Monday that it may back out -- follows several other cancelled European IPOs in recent months, including those of Germany's Siltronic and ATU. Other firms, such as UK sportswear supplier Umbro, have reduced the amount they raised.
The market for new issues has picked up this year after a three-year downturn, but geopolitical risks, rising interest rates and high oil prices have tempered investors' appetite for new stock.
Bradbury said Intelligent Energy had financing in place to sustain its business and that further funds could be raised through private placement.
He said the company, which began life in August 2001, would reconsider a flotation in London or New York in due course.
Fuel cells use hydrogen for a chemical reaction that produces electricity. The basic technology is old, but increasing concerns about the pollutants in other fuels have led inventors back to the use of hydrogen as a fuel of the future in both static power generation and transport applications.
JP Morgan was nominated adviser for the offer and was to be joint broker with Evolution Beeson Gregory.
