An engineering group has confirmed that it is in talks to acquire graphene specialist Versarien plc after it served a notice of intention to appoint Leonard Curtis as administrators this week.
Versarien plc has been close to administration throughout 2025 and said in late September that it would run out of cash by November.
It looked set to be saved as a fellow listed company agreed a provisional £200,000 takeover deal in October – and that company has now been revealed to be Time To ACT.
The deal would have seen it buy Versarien’s shares in Total Carbide Limited and Gnanomat SL, together with assets including patents and trademarks held by Versarien and graphene production equipment held by Versarien Graphene Limited – the latter of which was already in administration.
The deal was £100,000 for the assets and £100,000 for the shares, while Time to ACT was also to take on responsibility for an Innovate UK loan of £5.7 million.
However the Gloucestershire-based firm revealed last week that the deal had fallen through and resolved to serve notice to appoint administrators, a move which protected the company against any creditor enforcement action for a period of 10 working days. It consequently requested a suspension in the trading of its shares on London’s junior AIM market.
Non-executive directors Sir Iain Gray CBE, Diane Savory OBE and Susan Bowen resigned with immediate effect.
“The acquisition of the business of Versarien would be in line with the company’s stated strategic objectives, although there is no certainty at this stage that Time To ACT will be the preferred bidder or that it will be possible to complete a transaction,” Time to ACT stated to the stock exchange this morning.
“If successful, the board of Time To ACT believes that the potential transaction has the potential to increase the scale of the company, improve its profile and diversify its portfolio of high quality engineering assets.”
Time to ACT, based in Stockton-on-Tees, is an engineering-led group focused on technology for the energy transition supply chain.
It currently has two principal operating businesses. Diffusion Alloys supplies diffusion coatings – an intermetallic layer that protects metal components from degradation at high temperatures and in highly corrosive environments, such as those found in hydrogen and nuclear energy generation.
GreenSpur is an intellectual property creator and generator designer that claims to have developed a credible solution for renewable energy applications to the ‘Rare Earth magnet problem’.
Magnets constructed using Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are fundamental components in electrical generators and electric vehicle motors which are critical to delivering the clean energy transition. However, there are substantial supply chain constraints and risks in the sourcing of REEs that are needed for these magnets.
GreenSpur says its generator design eliminates the need for Rare Earth magnets and copper coils without any loss in electrical performance.