ASX gets hip to Portland float

Hip replacement specialist Portland Orthopaedics (ASX:PLD) has listed on the ASX today at AUD$0.28, three cents above its issue price of $0.25.

"We are very excited," said Portland managing director David Sekel. "The company represents enormous value. It is the close of one chapter and the opening of another chapter and we are in a good position to launch our products next year."

Portland closed its IPO fully subscribed, raising $4 million to expand its business from a single product focus into a multi-product orthopaedics company.

Portland was established in 1991 to commercialise the DTC hip replacement system developed by Prof Ron Sekel, from St George Hospital, Sydney. The company implanted its first hip, in Australia in 1997, and in the USA in 2000 and to date has sold more than 1500 implants in the US and Australia alone. The product also has approval in Europe, New Zealand and Israel and the company is preparing to launch into Asia and Europe through its own distribution network.

Portland has also received regulatory approval for its Equator Plus cup in the US and is expecting approval for a second complementary range of primary hip replacements, the M-COR stem system in the first quarter of 2006. A fourth product range for Portland, a total knee replacement system, is due for completion in mid-2006.