Tech-transfer company IP Group is to take a 20 per cent stake in its smaller rival Fusion IP, in a £3.2m ($5.7m) deal that also includes a co-investment provision for the larger company, allowing it to take a share in any new companies incubated by Fusion.

Fusion is a technology transfer company with exclusive arrangements to commercialise research and discoveries made at the universities of Cardiff and Sheffield, which both spend approximately £90m on research annually. Fusion’s investments are valued at £6.4m, and each year the company creates two or three new spin-off companies, principally in the fields of information technology, engineering and biotechnology.