Laser manufacturer Cynosure files for IPO of up to $75M
A Medical Device Daily Staff Report
Cynosure (Westford, Massachusetts) has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of its Class A common stock. Share pricing and the number of shares to be offered were not reported.
The offering - for up to $75 million - will be sold by Cynosure as well as by El.En. SpA, Cynosure?s majority stockholder, an Italian provider of laser sources and systems. Cynosure won?t receive any proceeds from the sale of those shares.
Cynosure is a developer of laser hair-removal technology and the accompanying hardware delivery systems. Founded in 1991, the company develops aesthetic treatment systems used to perform non-invasive procedures to remove hair, treat vascular lesions, rejuvenate skin through the treatment of shallow vascular and pigmented lesions and temporarily reduce the appearance of cellulite.
Its products incorporate a range of laser and other light-based energy sources, including Alexandrite, pulse dye, Nd:Yag and diode lasers, as well as intense pulsed light.
Earlier this year Cynosure partnered with Pentax Medical to treat at Walter Reed Medical Center (Washington) the damaged throat of a soldier wounded in Iraq, using a surgical pulsed-dye laser.
The sole book-running underwriter for the offering is Citigroup Global Markets, with UBS Securities, Jefferies & Co. and Needham & Co. acting as co-managers.
The Boston Herald has reported that Massachusetts companies so far in 2005 have raised $435 million in public offerings, a 49% increase over the first eight months of 2004. Cynosure, is the sixth Massachusetts company to file plans to conduct an IPO this year. Another of the companies in the state treading the IPO path in 2005 - and the first of the year for the biotech sector - was ViaCell (Boston), which raised about $60 million in a 7.5 million offering. ViaCell is the developer of the Viacord system for collecting and preserving babies? cord blood stem cells.
In an IPO filing outside the med-tech products realm, Team Health (Knoxville, Tennessee) has filed with the SEC for an IPO of up to $172 million. The company said that the cash raised would be used to repay debt.
Team Health provides medical staffing, management, administrative and other support services on an outsourced basis to physicians. It reports having contracts with more than 470 hospitals in 44 states to provide medical staffing, management, administrative, and other support services. The company claims 4,700 healthcare providers in its network. It operates through physician-managed regional affiliates.
Cornerstone Equity Investors and Madison Dearborn Capital Partners each own 36% of the company.
Team Health is the second medical staffing firm to file for an IPO in August. Earlier in the month, Emergency Medical Services (EMS; Greenwood Village, Colorado) also filed to raise about $170 million. Onex controls 97% of EMS.
In other financing activity:
* Sightline Technologies (Haifa, Israel) reported re-ceiving $10 million in new financing with the sale of Series D preferred stock. The financing round was led by NGN Capital, with the remainder of the investor syndicate including Vitalife, Infinity, Inventech and the Fishman Group.
Sightline is the developer of the ColonoSight system, an FDA-cleared technology featuring a disposable ColonoSleeve tube and sheath, used for the diagnosing and treating abnormalities in the large intestine.
Sightline said that it would soon begin a pre-marketing clinical study of the ColonoSight to further validate its cost-effectiveness.
Sightline reports holding five patents and has filed 12 other patent applications. Its intellectual property covers the pioneering use of the ColonoSight system, including the EndoSight non-fiber optic colonoscope, the disposable ColonoSleeve multi-lumen tube that is covered by a compressed protective sheath, and the electro-pneumatic System Control Unit which powers the device. It says that its advanced IntraPull power-assisted disposable technology potentially improves the safety and speed, relative to traditional colonoscopy systems, while the protective sheath places a disposable barrier between the patient, the EndoSight scope and the physician. Together, the system is designed to enable gastroenterologists to more quickly and precisely diagnose and treat abnormalities in the large intestine.
The company reported early clinical data showing that the ColonoSight system is capable of reducing the risk of infection to both the patient and physician, while potentially reducing the risk of intestinal perforation.
Avi Levy, president of Sightline, said the financing proceeds would be used ?to provide growth capital? to bolster marketing and ?production infrastructure.? He added: ?During the next six to 12 months, the company expects to significantly increase its staff, from 30 to 50 employees.?
Kenneth Abramowitz, managing general partner, represented NGN Capital as the lead partner in this investment and will hold a board seat. John Costantino, a managing general partner of NGN Capital, will hold an observer seat.
