GI Dynamics is optimistic that it can raise at least $86 million through its initial public offering in Australia, which is set to close this week.
The Lexington, Mass.-based obesity and Type II diabetes treatment company is aiming for between $80 to $95 million AUS according to regulatory filings, which is about $86 million to $102 million USD.
If it hits the higher mark, GI Dynamics’ IPO will be the second largest this year for Australia, behind the $200 million IPO for Collins Foods, The Australian reported.
"We continue to be excited by the response that we have seen and heard and we’re pushing forward," CEO Stuart Randle told the paper. "We’re quite optimistic."
Read more of MassDevice.com’s coverage of GI Dynamics.
GI Dynamics first filed a prospectus with Australian regulators on August 3, naming med-tech goliath Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) as a repeat investor. Regulatory documents showed that Medtronic, which previously invested $15 million, intended to be part of a private placement of $19.7 million AUS, about $20.7 million USD.
Other GI Dynamics past investors include Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., along with big venture capital firms Advanced Technology Ventures, Domain, Polaris Ventures and Cutlass Capital. All but JNJ are expected to participate in the private placement. About $6 million of the private placement will be convertible notes the company floated in the early summer under a bridge loan with current investors.
GI Dynamics’ EndoBarrier gastrointestinal sleeve won Australian approval for treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity late last month. The device won CE Mark in Dec., 2009, for six months of treatment, which prompted a $15 million investment from Minneapolis, Minn.-based medical device giant Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT), which joined other investors in backing the firm as it prepared for commercial launch in the European Union.
The EndoBarrier is a plastic sleeve inserted endoscopically into the small intestine, where it slows the uptake of nutrients from food to induce weight loss and help control the symptoms of diabetes.
The device can be implanted without surgery, which company president & CEO Stuart Randle views as the next wave for medical devices. "I think the next generation of technologies is going to be combinations of devices, combinations of drugs and combinations of devices and drugs, all focused on effecting multiple mechanisms of action simultaneously — and less invasively than surgery," Randle told MassDevice in a June 2009 interview.
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