Thursday 23rd April 2026, 5:00pm BST
Hilco is seeking offers to acquire the intellectual property and tangible assets of Oceanium Limited (In Administration) (“Oceanium” or the “Company”) on behalf of the Joint Administrators of the Company, Blair Milne and James Fennessey of Azets Holdings Limited.
Founded in 2018, Oceanium is a specialist biomaterials and sustainable ingredients technology company focused on the development of seaweed-derived solutions, with a strategic emphasis on high-performance natural ingredients, including applications in inks and coatings.
The Company was established in response to increasing regulatory, environmental, and commercial pressures to improve sustainability across materials and supply chains, alongside growing demand from global brands for renewable, biodegradable materials and natural-origin functional ingredients.
Backed by over $20m of investment across multiple funding rounds, the Company developed a proprietary seaweed bio-refinery and materials platform capable of converting sustainably sourced seaweed biomass into fully biodegradable materials and high-value functional ingredients. From inception, the Company’s platform was designed to be scalable and compatible with existing manufacturing infrastructure, targeting applications across packaging, consumer goods, health, skincare, and more.
At the core of the Company’s proposition is a proprietary cascade bio-refinery process that enables the extraction and conversion of seaweed into multiple commercial outputs from a single feedstock, maximising biomass utilisation and driving economic efficiency. Oceanium’s integrated approach underpins the Company’s portfolio of branded products, including OCEAN ACTIVES® H+ (gut health and microbiome support), OCEAN ACTIVES® C+ (skin health and microbiome protection), and OCEAN INK® (a biodegradable, water-based pigment and binder solution for printing and packaging applications).
The Company has progressed its technology from laboratory development through to pilot-scale and early commercial production, supported by a comprehensive body of technical documentation, testing data and production know-how, including proprietary methodologies covering extraction, formulation, process optimisation, quality control and performance validation, enabling a clear pathway to industrial scale-up.
Throughout its development, Oceanium engaged with established international brands, materials developers, and packaging partners to inform product design and validate performance in real-world applications. The Company’s lead ingredients, OCEAN ACTIVES® C+ and OCEAN ACTIVES® H+, have been rigorously evaluated through in vitro and clinical studies, demonstrating functional efficacy and performance against relevant industry benchmarks. These results support their application across health, nutrition and personal care sectors. The Company has also achieved recognition within industry innovation programmes, including winning the Thai Union Innovation Challenge at the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit, and has received coverage in sector publications such as Nutritional Outlook and Personal Care Insights, reflecting early market visibility and validation of its science-led approach.
This acquisition represents an opportunity to secure a developed portfolio of biomaterials and ingredients intellectual property assets, including granted patents and pending applications, trade secrets, proprietary production know-how, testing data, supporting technical documentation, and brand assets. Acquiring the assets provides a purchaser with a foundation to accelerate commercial deployment, integrate the technology into existing materials and ingredients platforms, or leverage the intellectual property defensively within the rapidly growing sustainable materials, packaging, biomaterials, and functional ingredients markets.
The Oceanium Brand
Positioned at the intersection of sustainability, materials innovation, and health, the Oceanium brand is closely associated with the development of a proprietary seaweed-derived platform capable of producing biodegradable materials, functional bioactive and sustainable inks. Through its progression from early-stage research to pilot and initial commercial deployment, Oceanium has built a reputation as an execution-focused innovator addressing multiple high-growth end markets, including packaging, consumer goods, skincare, functional nutrition, and pet health.
From inception, the Oceanium brand has been developed with broad commercial applicability in mind. The Company has engaged with a range of established global FMCG, skincare and packaging groups, supporting product development, testing and validation in real-world applications. These engagements, alongside collaborations with international research institutions and innovation networks, have reinforced the brand’s credibility and positioned Oceanium as a partner of choice for organisations seeking scalable, lower-impact material and ingredient solutions.
At the core of the brand is a portfolio of product-led sub-brands, each aligned to specific end markets and use cases:
Oceanium Brands – 1
The Oceanium brand has gained increasing visibility across sustainability, innovation and science-led media. The Company has also participated in high-profile collaborations and international initiatives focused on sustainable ocean-based solutions, further strengthening its position within the global blue economy ecosystem. Notably, Oceanium partnered with WWF-UK and Artwise for the Arts for Your Oceans exhibition at Sotheby’s, showcasing works created using OCEAN INK® by leading contemporary artists including Antony Gormley, with proceeds supporting WWF. Building on this momentum, OCEAN INK® launched into retail with CASS Art in March 2026 demonstrating both its performance in real-world use and its relevance as a sustainable alternative within the art materials market.
Acquiring the Oceanium brand and associated intellectual property provides a purchaser with the opportunity to take ownership of a scientifically grounded, sustainability-led platform brand with established market relevance, multiple commercial entry points, and the potential to scale across materials, ingredients and consumer-facing applications within a rapidly growing global market.
The Company holds a portfolio of registered trade marks protecting the Oceanium brand and its core product lines, including its key sub-brands across functional ingredients and materials applications.
Full details on the Company’s trade marks are available via a virtual data room.
Oceanium holds an internationally filed portfolio of patents focused on the composition, processing, and application of seaweed-derived biomaterials and bioactive ingredients, forming the core intellectual property underpinning the Company’s proprietary bio-refinery platform.
The Company’s patent portfolio is organised around two principal patent families. The first covers Oceanium’s core seaweed materials technology, protecting how seaweed is processed and used to create biodegradable products such as films, coatings, inks, paper and packaging materials, as well as moulded and extruded applications, providing protection over the underlying material platform as an alternative to conventional plastics. Oceanium’s second family focuses on the extraction and processing of high-value bioactive ingredients from seaweed, including proprietary methods used to produce purified, functional ingredients (such as those used for gut health, skincare and other health-related applications) across the nutraceutical, cosmetic and veterinary sectors. Additional filings extend to specific applications, including cosmetic-grade extracts and prebiotic ingredients, broadening the scope of protection beyond core materials and reinforcing the Company’s position across both sustainable materials and functional ingredient markets.
Collectively, the Company’s patent portfolio comprises multiple filings across key jurisdictions, including a granted UK patent covering core seaweed formulations and processing technology, with corresponding applications progressed through the PCT route and into national phases in territories such as the US and Europe. Additional provisional and pending filings support the ongoing expansion of the portfolio across both material and bioactive product categories.
Oceanium has developed a proprietary seaweed bio-refinery and materials platform based on green chemistry and cascade processing principles, enabling the efficient conversion of sustainably sourced seaweed biomass into high-value, fully biodegradable materials, functional bioactive ingredients, and water-based inks. The Company’s platform integrates a range of specialised processes covering extraction, separation, refinement, and formulation, forming the technical foundation underpinning the Company’s core product offerings.
The Company’s proprietary know-how is captured through a combination of trade secrets, internal production protocols, and process methodologies developed through R&D, pilot-scale production, and ongoing optimisation, including detailed operational workflows, formulation rules and process parameters that enable consistent product performance and provide a clear pathway to scale.
Oceanium has generated a substantial body of testing data and technical documentation showing performance across key commercial metrics, including biodegradability, material functionality, microbiome efficacy, skin performance, and stability in end-use applications. Collectively, this know-how and data package represents a critical component of the Company’s intellectual property portfolio and a key enabler of future commercialisation and scale-up.
The Company owns the primary oceanium.world domain, which is available to acquire.
The Company likely holds the copyright in the website content hosted at its domain, which serves as the central hub for presenting Oceanium’s technology, development progress, and sustainability credentials is likely also available.
Rights in the Company’s social media accounts, including LinkedIn accounts, are available to acquire.
Full details on social media accounts are available via a virtual data room.
Oceanium holds data on previous and prospective customers and strategic partners, including contact details for FMCG, packaging, and industrial brands that evaluated the Company’s materials or issued letters of intent for pilot trials.
Oceanium’s tangible assets comprise laboratory equipment, processing machinery, and office fixtures and fittings.
Full details of tangible assets are available via the virtual data room.
Please note offers are due Thursday 23rd April 2026, 5pm BST
All expressions of interest and indicative offers 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.
On receipt of a signed non-disclosure agreement (NDA) access will be provided to a virtual data room housing additional information. To access the NDA please click the link, sign and return via email to [email protected]
Hilco is acting as the exclusive agent for the Company in connection with the proposed sale of the intellectual property assets (the “Transaction”).
The Transaction is made strictly on an “as is, where is” basis. Only such right, title, and interest (if any) as the Company may have will be transferred to a purchaser or investor. No warranties, guarantees, or representations (express or implied) are given by the Company or Hilco in respect of the assets or any information provided. All parties must rely solely on their own inquiries, investigations, and due diligence. Any information supplied (including financial, commercial or technical information) is provided for convenience only and has not been independently verified.
All offers are subject to the addition of VAT at the prevailing rate, where applicable. A non-refundable deposit equal to 20% of the agreed purchase price must be paid by the successful purchaser within 48 hours of offer acceptance. Payment of the deposit grants the purchaser the exclusive right to proceed with the acquisition of the relevant assets for a limited period and on the terms agreed. A Buyer’s Premium of 10% of the final purchase price is payable by the successful purchaser in addition to the agreed purchase price, is non-negotiable and is payable at the same time and in the same manner as the purchase price and forms a condition of Transaction.
Legal completion timelines and transaction mechanics will be agreed as part of the definitive documentation.
