Advanced ink jet printing technology company Xaar Ltd says it plans to seek a full listing on the London Stock Exchange over the next few months, aiming for a market capitalization of over 60m pounds. The Cambridge, UK-based company, formed in 1990, hopes to raise between 10m and 12m pounds to fund its expansion, and has appointed Japanese bank Nomura International as sponsor and lead manager for the placing. To date, Xaar has received a total of 8.1m pounds in funding, including venture capital from the 3i Group and Prelude Technology Investments Ltd, and an institutional private placing in 1996. The company has concentrated so far on licensing its PZT, or piezo ceramic wafer print head technology and special ink to printer manufacturers, and has so far signed up eight companies, including six major – but currently unnamed – Japanese manufacturers. In the office equipment market, Xaar’s technology, which is claimed to bring near photographic quality to printers and fax machines, will compete with Canon Inc’s Bubble Jet technology and Hewlett-Packard Co’s HP Jet. Unlike bubble jet technology, Xaar’s ceramic wafer heads do not rely on heating, and are therefore cheaper to manufacture, according to Xaar managing director Graham Wylie. Xaar is also planning to set up a second strand of business, selling specialist printing equipment direct to industrial companies for printing onto materials such as plastics and metal. It plans to set up its own manufacturing facilities in Cambridge. The company currently employs 65 people.
