Hilco Streambank (“Hilco”) is seeking offers to acquire the business and assets of Ancon Technologies Limited (“Ancon” or the “Company”).
Governments across the globe are continuously looking for innovative technologies and processes for the fast and accurate detection of trace chemicals in the air to address global security and healthcare challenges. Founded in 2003, Ancon is a UK-based company that has developed proprietary technologies for the fast and accurate detection of trace quantities of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), with applications including pollution monitoring, detection of trace amounts of explosives, drugs and chemical weapons, and disease diagnosis and management.
Ancon’s platform technology is the product of several decades of research and development and c. £11.5m in investment. It has the potential to provide faster diagnosis, point-of-care non-invasive detection of disease, higher sensitivity and a more affordable alternatives to current methods of detecting and identifying VOCs. The Company’s technology detects trace chemicals in the air at the level of a single molecule and represents a significant technological development for the sector, offering benefits to the user such as enhanced security and significantly reduced cost. The technology has been developed to enable real-time, non-contact measurement of explosives, drugs, radiation, chemicals, and diseases and opens up a range of new opportunities in the defence and healthcare markets. As terrorists and other threat agents become cannier and gain access to weapons which are difficult to detect, Ancon’s detection technology offers a solution beyond the capabilities of alternative technologies.
In 2017, Ancon was awarded a contract to develop the next generation of explosives detection systems under the Future Airports Security Systems programme, worth up to £1.2m. As part of this contract, the Company partnered with a large US defence company specialising in airport security, illustrating the commercial opportunities for the technology. In recent years, the Company has been awarded numerous development contracts by the UK Ministry of Defence, including an agreement to develop a demonstration prototype for the detection of chemical weapons for the protection of military personnel.
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Company applied its technology to the quick, non-invasive detection of the novel Coronavirus, with greater than 90% clinical accuracy and in a variety of settings, including St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a busy testing centre near Heathrow Airport, and the Medical University of South Carolina in the USA, with an array of other medical applications possible in the future. The Company has an impressive global pipeline of potentially interested customers, including governments, healthcare companies and medical institutions. The Company employs a small but dedicated team, many willing and eager to assist a buyer following an acquisition.
There continue to be many opportunities for applying Ancon’s technology in the security and healthcare sectors in the UK, Europe and beyond, with the Company well-positioned to exploit these opportunities moving forward. This opportunity offers a prospective buyer the chance to acquire an innovative and disruptive business with proven technologies and market-ready products and the supporting intellectual property and business assets to capitalise on the growing demand for effective threat and disease diagnosis solutions across the globe.
The Ancon brand is widely known and highly respected in its industry.
The brand distinguishes itself from its competitors in the space, offering a one-of-a-kind threat and disease detection solution with the vision to save lives and make a difference in society.
Confidence in the brand was boosted by investment from various angel investors and the support of the Innovation Research Council (IRC), a consortium of funders led by The Home Office, which includes the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the London Metropolitan Police. Ancon has been awarded funding from the Technology Strategy Board in the UK following a successful demonstration of the technology.
Ancon won the 2006 Kent Innovation Challenge and has been recognised by the national and international media as an expert within several specific design fields. The Open Access Government website has featured various interviews with Ancon on the future of technology.
The Ancon brand has achieved excellent media coverage, with the brand and technology featured on BBC News, BBC Breakfast and RTL Television in Germany. The brand has also been the centre of extensive positive press attention, publicised by TechCrunch, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, the Mail on Sunday and the Scottish Post.
The Company is likely to possess rights in unregistered trade marks in relation to the “Ancon” and “Ancon Technologies” brand names and logos.
The Company’s method and apparatus for concentrating ionised molecules and its unique ion counter are protected by granted patents with broad and international coverage.
As part of a robust patent management system, the territorial selection was designed to capture the majority of the market locations, with protection granted across the UK and USA, positioning the Company to exploit the demand from the key stakeholders within the defence and healthcare industries across these vast markets. The Company also has pending patent applications covering these strategic markets.
A full patent schedule is available via the virtual data room.
The Company holds significant organisational knowledge and proprietary know-how covering the development of Ancon’s technology, including valuable reports on the development of the technology, extensive scientific and testing data from internal and external projects and trials, market intelligence and journal articles and papers explaining the development of the technology and scope for further growth in the space.
The primary ancontechnologies.com domain name is available to acquire.
The Company’s informational website, hosted at https://ancontechnologies.com/, showcases the Company’s technology and contains a depth of rich content and imagery.
Rights in the social media accounts are also available to acquire across Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
Various items of equipment and other tangible assets are available to acquire.
CLOSED
All expressions of interest and bids are to be directed to Hilco in writing. A Bid Submission Form is available on request. Please contact Hilco to gain access to a virtual data room for further information on signing a confidentiality agreement.
The bidder acknowledges that Hilco acts as an agent for the Company who offer for sale only what right, title and interest (if any) the Company possesses in the assets. Such sale will be without any warranties, expressed or implied. The information provided has not been verified by Hilco and bidders are deemed to have carried out their own due diligence.
VAT, if applicable, at 20% will be added to the price. A non-refundable deposit of 20% will be payable by the buyer within 48 hours of bid acceptance. Legal completion to occur within 5 business days of bid acceptance Hilco’s full Terms and Conditions apply. Hilco Streambank’s full Terms and Conditions apply.
