Gloucestershire advanced materials engineering firm Versarien is placing a number of its businesses into administration after failing to find a buyer for them.
The Longhope-based company, which makes products from graphene for use in the automotive and aerospace industries, has been under financial pressure for some months.
The AIM-listed business posted a pre-tax-loss of £1.49m for the first half of the year and in June appointed advisory firm Leonard Curtis to sell off certain assets from the group's º£½ÇÊÓƵ tech companies.
It had also been seeking a strategic joint investment partner for its 3D Construction Printing arm and winding up operations in Korea.
However, the business said on Thursday (July 31) the sale process had ended without a suitable offer being received. As a result Versarien Graphene Limited is being placed into administration, while Cambridge Graphene Limited and 2-DTech Limited will start the process of voluntary liquidation. Versarien Korea Limited has now ceased all operations.
The ongoing group will then consist of Versarien plc, Gnanomat SL and Total Carbide Limited, which the company continues to market for sale, and will concentrate primarily on its hybrid nanomaterials and energy storage technologies.
"These actions will conserve further cash and extend the group's forecast runway through to the end of August 2025 to allow further time for the proposed, and previously announced, strategic investment to be closed, albeit there is no guarantee that it will do so," the company said in a statement to the stock market.
"Should the strategic investment not be received the board intends to appoint Leonard Curtis to conduct an accelerated sale process of the remaining group assets. Further announcements will be made in due course as appropriate."
The announcement comes just days after Versarien agreed an out-of-court settlement with its former chief executive. Neill Ricketts left the struggling firm in March last year and launched legal action against the business.
In June, the company said it was owed nearly £4,000 by a Lancashire housebuilder that had gone into liquidation, adding to its financial troubles.
