Oxford engineering company to float on London Stock Exchange's AIM this week

Published by

Nicky Godding

Oxfordshire based tech company Saietta, which has developed the innovative Axial Flux Technology (AFT) electric motor, has announced its listing on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, raising expected gross proceeds of £37.5 million with an approximate market capitalisation of £102.1 million at the issue price.

Saietta’s admission to AIM on Wednesday will be an important step in the company’s continuing development and will support the acceleration of its commercial progression to mass production of the proprietary AFT electric motor for a range of global market applications.

The IPO will provide Saietta with the capital to execute its growth plans, including establishing a motor durability testing facility and contributing to the expansion of a pilot production facility, which will increase the company’s European production capacity to 100,000 units per annum.

Last November, Saietta announced that it had won a major grant, through the Coventry-based Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) that will fast-track the first stage of the production process ramp-up for its innovative Axial Flux Traction (AFT) electric motor.

https://www.businessinnovationmag.co.uk/upper-heyford-auto-company-secures-major-grant-to-ramp-up-production-on-electric-motor/

As governments and vehicle manufacturers scramble to decarbonise and develop new electric vehicles (EVs), there is a significant and growing demand to make EV technology more accessible. Affordable electric propulsion and battery systems are key to reducing EV cost and enabling widespread adoption. This is an essential step for many emerging economies and cities that are gripped by chronic air pollution, especially in Asia.

Wicher Kist, chief executive officer at Saietta Group plc, said: “We have been greatly encouraged by the very positive reaction to our IPO which attracted support from a range of blue chip institutions. It puts us in a strong position to deliver our exciting strategy.

“Although the motor industry has focused on the electrification of the passenger car segment, Saietta has taken a contrarian view and focused on high volume, high growth markets. We have taken high end, high performance technology and redeveloped it for low-cost, mass production giving our AFT motors potential across a wide range of EV applications.

“We believe we are uniquely positioned to disrupt the Asian lightweight motorbike market which is expected to dominate demand for motorbikes; global annual motorbike sales are independently forecast to increase to circa 100 million by 2030, 40 per cent of which are expected to be electric. We are aiming to capture a material proportion of the rapidly expanding electric motorbike market.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.