A new investor has acquired a stake in Leeds-based hydrogen, ammonia and fertiliser company Atome Energy.
CFT Ventures, a Crandall Family Trust company registered in Guernsey, bought a 2% stake in Atome for £800,000. The deal is the result of existing shareholder Molecular Energies PLC - the company from which Atome was spun out of - disposing of 800,000 ordinary shares at £1 each. Following the move, Molecular holds 20.5% of the company.
An update to the London Stock Exchange explained that Mark Crandall was head of natural resources giant Glencore's oil trading business before he co-founded international commodity trading firm Trafigura in the early 1990s. Since leaving Trafigura, Mr Crandall founded and is now chairman and a member of the executive board of PostScriptum Energy Pte Limited, a renewable energy developer specialising in grid-connected development in Europe and green hydrogen projects.
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Peter Levine, chairman, said: "I am pleased that Molecular Energies has facilitated this transaction which enlarges and diversifies our serious strategic investor base. Mark and I go back to the early Trafigura days. I am confident he will be an active and constructive shareholder going forward."
Last month Atome published audited results for 2022, in which it said it had incurred comprehensive losses of $5.9m, up from $2.2m in 2021. During the year the firm raised about $4.3m with the issue of new shares to Baker Hughes and other shareholders.
Atome says that since listing in 2021 it has made "material and rapid progress" including through its 621MW+ pipeline of production capacity in Latin America and Europe. At the time, chief executive officer Olivier Mussat said: "The increase in hydrocarbon and fertiliser prices, together with the international emphasis on environmentally necessary green commodities and security of supply, has provided a very fertile end market for Atome's planned production. We have ever increasing confidence, backed by industry interest in us, that there will be robust demand for our production which will support strong economics for our business, with profitability and sustainability going hand in hand."
