A well-known Cheltenham advanced materials business has announced it has raised £6 million from an American investor, which will help it advance despite the coronavirus crisis.

Versarien plc, the engineering and advanced materials firm, said it raised the money from US-based Lanstead Capital Investors.

Lanstead bought 15 million new shares in the company at 40 pence a piece, all of which saw the share price for the Gloucestershire business close 12 oer cent higher on Monday at 29 pence. A month ago the price had reached 50 pence.

Apparently proceeds from teh deal will be used for general working capital for Versarien and to advance its commercialisation strategy.

Neill Ricketts (pictured), the chief executive of the company, said: "The proceeds of the sharing agreement will underpin our activities over the next two years.

"The mechanics of the sharing agreement allow Versarien to benefit from future share price appreciation and reflect an alignment of both the company and Lanstead's belief in the potential for substantial value enhancement for shareholders through the execution of our graphene commercialisation strategy.

"With the company having a sound financial base and despite the background of the current global Covid-19 pandemic, I am confident that the company will continue to make significant progress in the coming months.

"In particular, we continue to advance our discussions in China and elsewhere and this fund raise does not preclude us from obtaining additional funding from other sources to accelerate the development of our graphene commercialisation strategy should appropriate value enhancing options be available."