ACTA.L Regulatory News (ACTA)

28 Sep 2007 10:06

Acta S.p.A.28 September 2007 For announcement on 28th Sept 2007: Acta S.p.A.28 September 2007 Acta S.p.A ('Acta' or the 'Company') Completion of First Sumitomo Subscription of £2.3 million and Institutional Placing of £1.15 million Acta announces the completion of the first stage of the strategic investment bySumitomo Corporation, its Asian marketing partner ("Sumitomo"), for £2.3million, together with a placing of £1.15 million to institutional investors. Under the terms of the Subscription Agreement announced on 12th July 2007,Sumitomo has agreed to subscribe for 4 million new ordinary shares(approximately 10%) in the Company at a price of 115p per share (£4.6m), to bepaid in two equal tranches. The investment of the second tranche is due to becompleted six months after the first. Acta has simultaneously raised a further £1.15m (before associated expenses)through a placing of 1 million shares at 115p with institutional investors byNumis Securities Ltd. The placing shares, together with those issued toSumitomo, were admitted to trading on AIM at 8.00am today. Following the completion of the first subscription, Sumitomo has a notifiableinterest of 2,000,000 ordinary shares, representing 5.13% of the enlarged sharecapital of the Company, which now comprises 38,995,126 ordinary shares in issue. Paolo Bert, Chief Executive of Acta, has further notified the Company that, as aresult of the capital increase, his interest in 17,183,022 shares in theCompany, which remains unchanged, now represents 44.1% of the enlarged share capital of the Company. Commenting on the Admission, Paolo Bert said: 'We are delighted to complete thisfirst stage of our financing and to welcome Sumitomo as investors in Acta.Sumitomo has a unique position from which to judge the commercial potential of Acta's patented technology, and their investment is therefore particularlysignificant. The funds raised, including Sumitomo's second stage investment,are expected to fund our activities into 2010.' For further information please contact: Acta S.p.A Tel. + 44 (0) 20 7360 4900Toby Woolrych Smithfield Group Tel. +44 (0) 20 7360 4900Noemie de Andia, George Hudson, Katie Hunt Numis Tel. +44 (0) 20 7260 1000David Poutney, Alex Ham About Acta Acta develops and manufactures unique patented catalysts which were launchedinitially to the renewable energy and portable electronics markets. Acta's HYPERMEC catalyst range for fuel cells allows developers to stop usingexpensive platinum so that fuel cells can be made commercially viable for massadoption in the portable electronics industry. Adoption of HYPERMEC catalysts greatly reduces the cost of portable fuel cells and additionally allows for thefirst time the use of a wide range of safe liquid bio-fuels such as ethanol andglycerol. Acta's new catalysts for ammonia offer the automotive industry access to apractical hydrogen carrier for the first time. The catalysts extract hydrogenfrom ammonia at room temperature, allowing ammonia, one of the most widely usedchemicals in the world, to become a fuel for automotive use, solving the problemof hydrogen storage and transportation. Sumitomo Corporation Through its worldwide network, the Sumitomo CorporationGroup engages in diverse business activities. These include various domesticand overseas transactions and import and export of a wide range of goods andcommodities, and also providing a wide range of services and investing, in thefields of, such as metals, transportation and construction systems, machineryand electricity, media, electronics and network, chemicals, mineral resourcesand energy, consumer goods and services, materials and real estate, and financeand logistics. (http://www.sumitomocorp.co.jp/english/index.htm) This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange