The Directors of the company believe that the EUR 60,000 acquisition will enhance the route-to-market for its textile applications. The company has assumed responsibility for the operations of Osmotek, which has been renamed Directa Textile Solutions Srl (DTS).

The acquisition and launch of DTS aims to reflect the company’s strategy to utilise its know-how and IP to have a greater role in the graphene value chain. Through DTS, the company will directly promote and distribute its graphene-enhanced membrane products to textile brands and end clients.

Osmotek

Osmotek, based in Milan, Italy, was founded in 2015, to focus on the commercialisation of textile membranes. Osmotek’s focus in the textile membrane market is on sportswear, workwear, fashion, and military applications. Osmotek was founded by Novaresin, a large Italian membrane producer, and the existing shareholders of Osmotek will continue to hold a 40% shareholding in DTS post-Acquisition.

Novaresin has a factory located in the North of Italy that is capable of producing 7 million metres of fabric per annum. It has a wide range of textile products and is a specialist in lamination whereby a textile membrane is laminated onto another fabric to enhance its properties, such as providing breathability or waterproofing.

The Novaresin products include a new range of graphene-enhanced membranes for textile applications, which have been developed in conjunction with Directa Plus over the last year. The incorporation of the company’s graphene-based products is said to enhance the textile membrane providing additional properties to the end fabric, such as electrical and thermal conductivity, bacteriostatic characteristics and abrasion resistance.

Advantages

Under the terms of the Acquisition, Directa Plus S.p.A. will be the sole supplier of graphene-based products to Novaresin which will then produce the graphene-enhanced membranes that will be commercialised through DTS. Directa Plus will also be responsible for the DTS operations, which will be based at the company’s existing headquarters in Lomazzo, Italy.

The acquisition will allow the company to take advantage of the development to date of G+ membranes undertaken by Directa Plus and Novaresin, giving the company greater control of the value and margin in the process from its development through to commercial sales. Directa Plus will also be better positioned to communicate directly with the end client and pursue its branding strategy of featuring the G+ logo on the end product and packaging.

“The establishment of Directa Textile Solutions represents a key milestone of our downstream integration strategy, and another step in the execution of our business plan. By moving up the value chain, we will be able to generate revenues from the provision of our G+ and also from the sale of the graphene-enhanced membrane to the end customer. Equally, we will be better able to communicate directly with major brands and so provide a product that meets their exact needs as well as pursuing our ingredient branding strategy,” commented Giulio Cesareo, CEO of Directa Plus.

www.directa-plus.com