College set for £10m windfall
BY CARL MORTISHED, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDITOR
IMPERIAL COLLEGE, London, will collect a windfall of £10 million from the £550 million flotation of Turbo Genset on the London Stock Exchange.
The high-tech company is raising £31 million in a placing to develop its micro-power generation business. Currently listed in Calgary and traded on London's Ofex exchange, Turbo is raising funds to build a plant at Heathrow to make high-speed alternators.
The novel technology, developed at Imperial College by Turbo Genset's chairman, Colin Besant, enables small-scale power generators to produce enough power for a small housing estate. Conventional diesel generators driven by pistons weigh several tonnes but Turbo Genset's unit is about the size of a chest freezer, weighing just 100 kilograms.
The small size and efficiency of the Turbo Genset device makes it suitable for local power generation, mobile power units for emergency services and for rail and other transport.
A joint venture with Detroit Edison, the US energy company, and Pratt & Whitney is producing a unit suitable for micro-grids. The US economic boom has left the country short in electric power with large areas in danger of power cuts. Local electricity generation is seen as a solution.
Turbo Genset is also targeting the transport sector. A joint venture with General Electric is producing turbo-chargers for diesel rail engines. BP Amoco has commissioned a power unit for offshore oil installations where the industry is using huge diesel or gas-powered turbines.
Professor Besant said: "We now have blue chip partners that we would have never dreamt of when we started out." WestLB Panmure is underwriting the placing of 4.1 million shares at £13 each. Existing shareholders, including Imperial College, are raising some £22 million but Professor Besant said the college would retain a 7 per cent interest in the company. |
