RUSNANO Acquires 25% of Plastic Logic for USD 150m

Plastic Logic, a U.S.-based electronics technology company, announced an investment deal in November 2010 which would give the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) a 25% stake in the company. The value of RUSNANO’s investment was recently revealed to be USD 150 million. Further details of the deal indicate that RUSNANO will also help Plastic Logic secure USD 100 million in debt financing.

A current round of financing for Plastic Logic will garner an addtional USD 50 million from Oak Investment Partners and a handful of others. The financing from both is dedicated to building a new production facility in Russia.

Plastic Logic (www.plasticlogic.com)
Plastic Logic was established by Cambridge University researchers in 2000 as a vehicle to design and produce electronic products that will help people acquire, consume, and organize all types of information.

To date, the company’s production centers mainly around e-reader devices with plastic lenses rather than glass. The company maintains R&D operations in Cambridge England, a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany, and executive management and sales and marketing offices in Mountain View, California.

RUSNANO (www.rusnano.com)
RUSNANO was established by the Russian government in 2007 to support the development of innovative nanotechnologies in that country. The main goal of RUSNANO is to encourage growth in the Russian nanotechnology sector in the hope of achieving annual sales of RU 900 billion by the year 2015. RUSNANO will achieve that goal by investing in appropriate projects that are likely to make a significant financial impact and social contribution. 2009 net income for the corporation was in excess of RU 11 billion.