CAITHNESS-based smart battery specialist AMTE Power will swell the ranks of stock market-listed firms in Scotland today when its shares are listed on the Aim exchange.
The flotation follows a fund-raising by AMTE that won a strong response from institutional investors and signalled confidence in the prospects of the firm, which produces lithium-ion battery cells in Thurso.
AMTE set out to secure £7m to help capitalise on expected strong demand for the kind of high-power products it makes amid the transition to a lower carbon energy system. This will involve using batteries to help electrify cars and industrial processes to reduce reliance on oil and gas as power sources.
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The company raised £12.9m though a placing, which it said was significantly oversubscribed.
Existing investors raised £700,000 from the sale of shares.
Based on the placing price of 175p per share, the company will have a market capitalisation of £61 million when its shares are admitted for trading on Aim.
Chief executive Kevin Brundish said AMTE was delighted by the investor response from both new and existing shareholders.
“The high demand has enabled us to raise additional funds which will further enhance the commercial prospects of our portfolio of battery cells,” he said.
“The switch to electrification is clearly happening and not just in the automotive sector but across multiple markets.”
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AMTE has developed an Ultra High Power battery cell for high-performance sports cars.
The number of stock market-listed firms in Scotland has dwindled in recent years. A range of Scottish companies have been acquired by businesses based outside the country.
In recent weeks directors of Glasgow-based temporary power firm Aggreko and Edinburgh fintech Nucleus Financial have recommended shareholders accepts bid that value the companies at £2.3 billion and £145m respectively.
In October telecoms equipment testing business Calnex Solutions became the first Scottish company to join the Aim market in more than two years.
AMTE employs 45 people in Thurso.
It developed out of a venture formed between AEA Technology and two Japanese groups, which established a lithium-ion battery plant in Thurso in the late 1990s. AEA Technology was spun off from the Atomic Energy Authority. This operated the nearby Dounreay nuclear reactor, where power generation ended in 1994.
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