St James’s Energy, an AIM-listed investor in the upstream energy and utilities sectors, has bought audio technology company Immersion Technology in a reverse takeover.

The deal has been satisfied in St James’s shares, with the company, which develops high performance electrostatic loudspeakers, valued at £19.7 million.

The combined entity will now trade as Immersion Technologies International plc. Christopher Lambert continues as chairman with Kiran Morzaria appointed a non-executive director. All Immersion’s directors have joined St James’s board.

St James’s was looking for an investment in the audio technology market and decided to buy Immersion due it its revenues and its contract with a major audio/visual and multimedia equipment provider. The directors also believe Immersion’s products are of a high quality and will allow them to expand within the loudspeaker market.

Immersion’s chief executive, Craig Evans, said he is delighted with the deal. “We believe our new investors will be thoroughly impressed with Immersion’s achievements to date.

“However, we see this as just the beginning; we are encountering significant levels of interest in our speakers from a broad range of players in the consumer electronics industry,” he added. “Our multi-tiered approach means that we can manage this demand in a variety of ways. Such a pipeline of potential orders means we can look forward to an exciting future.”

St James’s received legal advice on the acquisition from Tony Lane, a partner at Wedlake Bell.

Lane said the firm acted for the company when it joined AIM last year following an introduction by its nominated adviser Nabarro Wells.

“The acquisition involved a large number of sellers and the majority of those were considered to be acting in concert for the purposes of the Takeover Code. As a result, the transaction, involved compliance with the AIM rules and the Takeover Code, in addition to technical points of Australian securities law.

“Immersion’s products are particularly exciting at this time, given the growth in flat screen televisions and the demand for innovative and high quality audio visual equipment,” he added. “We look forward to working with the company as it progresses.”

Immersion Technology and its shareholders were advised by Michael Bennett of Kerman & Co LLP on all aspects of the transaction.

Bennett said: “It would not have been possible to deliver this deal in the required timeframe without real teamwork between our lawyers, the clients and all the other advisors working on the transaction.”