Mainstay Medical raises €18m in €90m floatation in Paris and Dublin

Back pain group Mainstay Medical has floated in Paris and Dublin in an IPO that values the early stage medical device company at €90 million.

The group, which is headquartered in Dublin with subsidiaries in Australia and the United States, raised €18 million in the exercise to fund ongoing clinical trials in Australia – and later in Europe – of its implantable ReActiv8 device designed to treat chronic lower back pain.

ReActiv8 works by sending electrical impulses to stimulate nerves working muscles critical to stability in the lower back area which may have been weakened by a previous injury.

A total of 851,175 new shares were issued under the offer at a price of €21.15 a share alongside the 3.4 million existing shares in the business. The price was at the lower end of the indicative range of €20 - €27 given in the flotation prospectus.

Mainstay is the first international medtech company to float in Paris and the first to conduct a dual listing in Paris and Dublin.

Chairman Oern Stuge, said: "We are delighted with the very positive response from institutional and individual investors who recognised that Mainstay Medical's unique and innovative approach to treating chronic low back pain, in addition to meeting a major clinical need, also offers an attractive investment opportunity."

Mainstay is targeting patients who have suffered low back pain for periods in excess of three months – a group it estimates at around 7 per cent of all patients with lower back pain.

Chief executive Peter Crosby says the problem is the single largest cause of lost working days in the working world, costing $60 billion annually in the US. "This is the first ever dual listing of a company on the Euronext Paris and the Irish ESM," said Manus Rogan, managing partner at private equity group Fountain Healthcare, which led a $20 million fundraising for the firm in 2012.

"Taking Mainstay Medical public at this time and in this way, is a great achievement by Peter and his team. Moreover, it provides the company with access to public market investors into the future. This successful IPO reflects the significant market potential of this clever device in the hands of a skilled and experienced team."

Apart from Fountain, investors in the group include French venture capital groups Sofinnova Partners and Seventure Partners, Capricorn Venture Partners from Belgium alongside medical device giant Medtronic and Twin Cities Angels from Minneapolis where the company was founded.

Following the flotation, existing shareholders will account for 83.3 per cent of the group. They invested €8 million in the private institutional placing, which raised €17.6 million.