Haydale enters into Memorandum of Understanding to Collaborate on Graphene Projects with Versarien plc
Haydale Graphene Industries plc (AIM:HAYD) and Versarien plc (AIM:VRS) have said they have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on and accelerate the development of their respective graphene projects (the “Collaboration”).
The Collaboration commences with immediate effect and provides the framework pursuant to which, Haydale and Versarien will work together to create solutions for the manufacturing and functionalisation of graphene on a large scale suitable for mass produced commercial applications. Both management teams expect to share resources to maximise the exposure and utilisation of the expertise of both organisations, which operate in different areas. In particular, Versarien through its subsidiary 2-D Tech will supply high quality graphene platelets for functionalisation using Haydale’s proprietary technology. Haydale will also supply high quality sustainable graphite for use as feedstock by 2-D Tech and evaluate the resulting material.
Ray Gibbs, Haydale Chief Executive said: “It is important we have a credible graphene presence to take to a global market that is still evaluating the materials available before embarking on procurement of commercial volumes. The 2-D Tech material has strong potential for a number of markets where we are focused, especially in the composites and coatings sectors. I have always said we need an array of high quality sustainable material, capable of scale to use in providing solutions for the customer requests we now regularly receive. The recent UK Trade Pavilion at Nano Korea attended by both Haydale and 2-D Tech, demonstrated the interest in the area for functionalised graphene. We have over 30 customers who have paid for graphene samples and none more so than in Korea where after a year of activity we now have 12 key accounts in various stages along the sales cycle. We look forward to working closely with the Versarien team in collaborative ventures at both a commercial and R&D level.”
Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, said: “We believe this to be a significant step forward. We will be working together with Haydale to best achieve the great global opportunity we have in front of both of us in the form of graphene. We will be collaborating in order to ensure that we minimise the time it takes us to commercialise this technology, playing to the strengths of both organisations. By working together we will be able to offer a complete supply chain from raw material, through graphene production to functionalisation depending on the customer application. The Collaboration follows our recent announcement about our breakthrough in scalable graphene production, experience of working with Haydale and exhibiting together at Nano Korea.”
