A Medical Device Daily

AIO Medical (Orlando, Florida) a small orthopedic company developing medical devices for the spine and trauma markets, reported raising more than $16 million in its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), including a $5 million “cornerstone shareholder” stake by ING, the Dutch international financial services company.

While the company’s target was $20 million, the figure did fall within its $15 million to $20 million pricing range.

Up until now, the three-year-old firm said it has survived solely on multiple rounds of venture funding, totaling $7 million. It said the new capital infusion will aid further product development, as well as sales and marketing infrastructure.

Among other things, the company said it plans to add 35 people to its staff of 14 in the next six to nine months. AOI will look for sales, engineering, marketing and finance people for positions with annual salaries of $75,000-plus.

By going public now, AOI has the distinction of being the first University of Central Florida Technology Incubator (Orlando, Florida) company to do so while still a part of the incubator program. AOI has been with the program for a little more than a year.

AOI said its work is based on three patent-pending technologies. These are designed to address compression fractures of the spine caused by osteoporosis or trauma; stabilization of fractures of the long bones in arms and legs; and stabilization after cervical spine disc replacement surgery

While the company had considered going public on the NASDAQ, it said it opted for AIM because it said there are fewer strings attached in the pre-public stage, with the company noting that In the U.S., there would have been preferred shareholders, and in London, everyone is at the same level as a common shareholder.

Because the company has gone public and plans to expand, it soon will exit the UCF Technology Incubator, where it occupies about 2,500 square feet. It now is looking for 7,000 to 10,000 square feet of space in the Orlando area.

In other financing news: RadNet (Los Angeles), a national provider of diagnostic imaging services through a network of fully-owned and operated outpatient imaging centers, reported that GE Healthcare Financial Services has agreed to arrange for RadNet a $445 million senior secured credit facility.

The credit facility includes a $45 million revolving line of credit, expected to be largely unfunded at the closing of the refinancing, and a $400 million term loan.

The credit facility is intended to refinance substantially all of RadNet’s existing indebtedness and will provide liquidity and working capital for future expansion.

Mark Stolper, RadNet’s CFO, said that the refinancing is expected to result in annual interest cost savings of about $5.4 million. The financing is intended to be concluded in August.

RadNet has a network of 132 owned and operated outpatient imaging centers. Its core geographical markets include California, Maryland and New York.