Pasco nanotech company plans IPO

Dais Analytic, a nanotechnology startup based in Pasco County, has filed for an initial public offering on the NYSE Amex Equities exchange, part of NYSE Euronext.

If approved, the IPO will offer 3.7 million shares of Dais stock at $3 to $5 a share. At the midpoint of $4 a share, the offering would generate about $15 million.

In their IPO filing, company officials say they'll use about a third of the cash injection for marketing, research and development. About $3.8 million will go into working capital.

Dais chief executive Tim Tangredi would see his compensation boosted to $1 million — $380,000 in deferred salary and the rest in company stock, according to documents filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tangredi's wife, Patricia, who serves as the company's general counsel, would get $348,000 in deferred salary and expenses. David Longacre, Dais' vice president for sales and marketing, would get $10,000 in unpaid salary.

Tim Tangredi declined to comment on the IPO.

On Thursday, the company traded over the counter at 32 cents a share. As of the end of May, Dais had 23 employees.

Dais makes and markets a plastic film that functions at the molecular level to filter water. The company has developed products based on its technology that filter air and water. The film's chemical properties also make it capable of storing electrical energy, company officials have said.

In 2009, Dais announced a $200 million, five-year contract with Genertec America Inc., a Chinese firm, to produce air filters and develop a water treatment plant built around Dais' technology. Testing delays in China have kept Genertec from buying any of Dais' air-handling products, according to the SEC filing.

In the wake of that deal, last year Dais won more than $600,000 in Department of Energy funding to develop a residential-scale version of its air-handling product. Pasco County also invested $250,000 in the same product in exchange for a promised $1 million return.

Also in 2010, Dais began working with researchers at the University of Florida to explore the potential for creating a battery-style storage device using Dais' technology. The project is due to end in July.

According to its latest SEC filing, Dais ended 2010 with $3.3 million in revenue and a net loss of $1.4 million.