Cambridge Graphene has been bought by advanced-materials group Versarien for £170,000 from its management and Cambridge Enterprise Ltd (the commercialisation arm of Cambridge University).

The company supplies inks based on graphene and related materials; it also develops graphene-materials technology for licensing to manufacturers.

Neill Ricketts, chief executive of Versarien (www.versarien.com), said: “We are delighted with the acquisition of Cambridge Graphene and the opportunities it brings us.

This addition to our existing graphene operations — in particular 2-D Tech, which we acquired from Manchester University in April 2014 — bridges the gap between the two centres of excellence for graphene and puts us at the centre of the graphene universe.

“We are also very pleased to welcome a new team and shareholders, new intellectual property and an existing partnership agreement with the Cambridge Graphene Centre and the university.

“While trading conditions remain challenging, we continue to invest in developing our graphene capabilities to take advantage of this enormous global opportunity and look forward to the future with confidence.”