Technology outfit Calix has raised $8 million and expects to start trading on the ASX next week

CALIX, a technology outfit chaired by UQ adjunct professor Peter Turnbull, has raised $8 million and expects its shares to start trading on the ASX next Friday.

Illustration of Peter Turnbull by Brett Lethbridge

INVESTORS may not fully understand what technology outfit Calix does but that hasn’t stopped them from embracing the firm’s IPO.

The company, chaired by UQ adjunct professor Peter Turnbull, has just raised $8 million and expects its shares to start trading on the ASX next Friday.

Since launching in 2005, Calix has developed what it says is a world-first patented technology that has applications that span everything from wastewater treatment to battery storage.

It has deployed a special kiln that produces “mineral honeycomb’’, which Turnbull describes as having similar properties to nanoparticles.

The process also allows for the separation of carbon dioxide, which can assist industries looking to reduce their output of the global warming agent.

The upshot of all this head-spinning stuff is that Calix can use the safe and environmentally-friendly minerals to protect sewer infrastructure from corrosion and enhance water conditioning in aquaculture and crop protection. There are even benefits for lime and cement manufacturing, as well as creating materials for improved energy storage.

If all this seems a tad abstract, you’re not alone.

But an external report generated for Calix suggests the global market opportunity for its already commercialised water treatment business is an astounding $62 billion.

Other applications in the pre-commercial phase and R&D zone could surf in on a world market valued at $31 billion.

The Calix capital raising, which values the company at $65 million, will be targeted at deepening its penetration of markets in the US, Europe and Asia.

The company has previously sourced more than $50 million in a bid to develop and commercialise its technology.

The latest cash infusion will ease some pressure on the bottom line, which has seen Calix suffer losses since 2015.

It reported $2.1 million in red ink in 2017 and lost another $1.6 million in the half-year to December.

STAY BORING

SPEAKING of IPOs, there’s speculation that Brisbane mob Bothar Bore & Tunnelling will go public at some point next year.

In the lead up to that potential float, the company has reportedly sourced a $60 million line of credit from a mob known as OCP Asia.

With offices in Hong Kong and Singapore, OCP says it has overseen more than $4 billion worth of targeted loans since 2004.

City Beat had hoped to have a chat with globetrotting Bothar boss Noel Kerr yesterday but he was overseas as usual.

In fact, we understand he was in Hong Kong, home to one of the OCP outposts.

NEW CLUB BOSS

LOBBYIST Peter Costantini has taken on the role of president of The Brisbane Club as it celebrates a few milestones this year.

The SAS Group boss became the 106th head of the club following the AGM yesterday. He noted that it’s been 30 years since the club moved to its Adelaide Street tower and 20 years since women were invited to join as full members.

In what appeared to be a dig at rival men’s-only Tattersall’s Club, Costantini described The Brisbane Club as “one of the most progressive, contemporary clubs of our kind’’.

BACK AND FORTH

SPIN doctor Kylie Barron just keeps bouncing back and forth between gigs with Queensland Resources Council boss Ian Macfarlane and Resources Minister Matt Canavan.

City Beat spies report she’s returned to the QRC after defecting in November to Canavan’s office after just four months with the lobby group. Barron had been working for Canavan when she was headhunted by Macfarlane to join the QRC last July. Before that, she had worked for Macfarlane back when he served as resources minister.

Anyway, she’s now working at the QRC alongside Kirby Anderson, a former senior media adviser and deputy chief of staff for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

The political chit chat around the water cooler must be fascinating!