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SJB
Posted: 10 January 2013 14:33:12(UTC)
#1

Joined: 16/02/2012(UTC)
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I'm looking to find an Investment Trust and/or VCT that invests in companies that specialise in 'Graphene.' The following link gives useful information:

http://www.graphenetracker.com/invest/

You'll see from the link that there are a range of categories associated with Graphene and the one I'm particularly interested in are:

Graphene-based Compounds
Advanced Graphene Components
Final Products and Devices

Although the webpage gives examples of companies I'm interested in ITs and VCTs that might have 'Graphene' as part of its portfolio.

Thanks...................
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Dennis .
Posted: 10 January 2013 19:02:54(UTC)
#2

Joined: 26/12/2007(UTC)
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This is a very dodgy area to invest in especially if you don't know what graphene is (the graphite bit is not really relevant). If you had invested in germanium or silicon when transistors were first developed you wouldn't have made anything. What about liquid crystals? or the hovercraft?
The tech world is littered with new products which either don't come to much or are used in such small amounts (like liquid crystals) that there isn't a big investment case.
I have a PhD in chemistry and have found that there is more to be made from boring stuff like oil and washing powders than good ideas which come to nothing.
Roll on room temperature superconductivity, fusion (only another 30 years away as ever), linear induction motors etc
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3 users thanked Dennis . for this post.
Wael Al-Jawad on 11/01/2013(UTC), colin wilson on 12/01/2013(UTC), Kieran Keating on 14/01/2013(UTC)
dd
Posted: 10 January 2013 19:39:26(UTC)
#3

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General comment: I think that there is also a danger of jumping into something which looks exciting TOO early.
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Jeremy Bosk
Posted: 11 January 2013 05:48:42(UTC)
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I have to agree that investing in early stage technology is usually profitless. The pattern is that early investors lose money and eventually sell to someone else at a knock down price. The "someone else" makes a fortune.

One company that in a very small way is graphene related is:

Imperial Innovations

Another company that commercialises university research (not apparently graphene) is:

Fusion IP

Durham Graphene Science
has some funding from:

IP Group PLC

I found the Durham link here:

Understanding Nano dot Com

You can follow up the other links yourself :-)

I knew about Imperial Innovations, looked it up in Sharescope (which you have to buy), saw that it was categorised as Specialty Finance, ran my eye down the rest of the category and recognised a few more names. You could try Digitallook.com which is free, or the London Stock Exchange site which has quite comprehensive company information.

Then I used Google with searches on e.g. who makes graphene

Let us know if you manage to make any money!
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1 user thanked Jeremy Bosk for this post.
chazza on 11/01/2013(UTC)
SJB
Posted: 11 January 2013 12:55:02(UTC)
#5

Joined: 16/02/2012(UTC)
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Thanks for your postings, much appreciated...................
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TruffleHunter
Posted: 11 January 2013 20:18:15(UTC)
#6

Joined: 01/11/2010(UTC)
Posts: 8
Try the companies that make machines to manufacture graphene substrates:
Aixtron of Germany
Veeco of US
CVD Equipment of US

All have been beaten down recently, mainly because the MOCVD furnace business (used in the manufactures of LED and solar substrates) was propped up by huge Chinese Government subsidies that resulted in too many MOCVD being imported by too many companies. Many furnaces in China are currently idle due to the fact that there are not enough trained operatives of these highly sophisticated bits of kit. With all this spare capacity one beneficiary is Cree (of US) as they make LED lighting. That has a legislative tailwind in the form of a requirement to phase out all other types of light bulb by 2014. Good chart pattern developing at the moment.

I have owned Veeco in the past and it made a tidy sum. Its a very cyclical business as you can see from the charts. Despondent lows and euphoric highs.
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Dennis .
Posted: 12 January 2013 17:43:23(UTC)
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Regarding the comments about LED lighting and the undoubted market that now exists for replacement of millions of light fittings it is worth remembering how long this has taken.
In 1972 I worked at the corporate research centre for a major electronics company. One day I was invited by a enthusiastic colleague to "come and see this", I followed him to a darkened room and in the corner, barely visible, was an orange glow from a small device. It was a light emiting diode. It has taken 40 years to move from that through indicator lamps, seven segment numerical displays, IR leds for TV controllers and other niche products to big markets like LED backlit TV screens and general lighting.
Now tell me when you think that graphene will make a big difference?
Incidentally did you know that the biggest market for lasers is/was in CD players so it's really hard to predict where any of these technologies go.
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1 user thanked Dennis . for this post.
Jeremy Bosk on 13/01/2013(UTC)
Jeremy Bosk
Posted: 03 February 2013 18:49:30(UTC)
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Nokia has just been given a grant of 1.35 billion Euros from the EU to research graphene. Of course they do a lot of other things as well.

Nokia given EU research funds for graphene

Incidentally, the Citywire search function is still useless, so I used Google with the syntax:

site:citywire.co.uk graphene
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TJL
Posted: 03 February 2013 20:43:17(UTC)
#9

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Would a natural resources or commodities fund/trust not be the best way?
If there is an opportunity, surely savvy managers will be jumping on the bandwagon?
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Jeremy Bosk
Posted: 04 February 2013 06:26:51(UTC)
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TJL

Graphene is still in the research phase. There is a patent race going on, currently led by South Korean universities. There is no knowing who will be first to go into mass production.
Mass production of high quality graphene

It is based on relatively cheap raw materials such as graphite but it requires extremely expensive and sophisticated processing. The relationship is comparable to that between sand and a silicon ingot (for making silicon chips).
How silicon chips are made from sand
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1 user thanked Jeremy Bosk for this post.
TJLamb on 04/02/2013(UTC)
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