Media Release
November 13, 2008
Aquaflow seeks $20 million to commercialise algal biofuel
BLENHEIM, NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand-based Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation is confident now is the ideal time to issue a
prospectus to raise $20 million to fund commercialisation of its algal biofuel technology.
”The economic downturn doesn’t change the fact that the world still needs renewable fuels and clean water – and there
are investors looking for these opportunities,” explains Aquaflow chairman Barrie Leay.
Marlborough-based Aquaflow announced in September that it had produced the world’s first sample of green-crude oil from
wild algae using its proprietary process. And last month the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with US
refinery UOP to work together to commercialise algal biofuel technology and to sequester carbon dioxide from power
plants.
Leay points out that Time Magazine has just listed green crude as one of the world’s 50 Best Inventions of 2008.
Copies of Aquaflow’s prospectus are available online at the company’s website www.aquaflowgroup.com or from Buddle
Findlay solicitors in Christchurch. The prospectus will be available to Australian investors from November 18. Shares
are 50c each and the offer closes in December.
“Our recent announcements have attracted a lot of interest from private investors internationally. But we wanted New
Zealanders to have the first opportunity to invest as it’s unlikely the company will be listed here,” says Leay.
The new investment would enable Aquaflow to push ahead with product commercialisation, which Leay expects could take up
to 18 months.
“Considering some pundits thought this process would take another decade, we’re making great strides,” he says.
Indeed the three year-old company has attracted the attention of a number of significant multi-nationals and a $3
million cornerstone investment in 2007 from renewable energy business Pure Power Global of Singapore.
In the past year it has announced continuous harvesting of wild algae and the commissioning of its bio-refinery; it has
shifted its focus from bio-diesel to green crude; it has produced world-first samples of green crude; and has shown its
water remediation process can turn a waste water discharge into clean water.
Aquaflow sources its wild algae from the local waste treatment oxidation ponds. The process does not conflict with land
use or with the production of food crops. And it has the added benefit of potentially being able to unlock a huge source
of re-usable clean water.
www.aquaflowgroup.com
ends