BrainZ lists at premium

Auckland-based BrainZ (ASX:BZI), which develops monitors for the detection of brain injury, listed on the ASX today at AUD$0.54, four cents above its issue price of $0.50.

"It is nice to see it finally in motion, we have done lots of hard work and the initial trading shows good support in the market," said BrainZ CEO Justin Vaughan. "The shares opened at 54 cents and trading has been in the region of 51-54 cents, which you can only be happy about."

BrainZ was established in 2001 to develop the technology invented by Assoc Prof Chris Williams and his team at the University of Auckland, and was originally a subsidiary of NeuronZ, now trading as Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU).

BrainZ's lead product, the BRM2 Brain Monitor, was granted TGA approval to be sold in Australia in 2002, FDA approval in 2003 and CE mark approval in 2004. It is a portable bedside electroencephalograph (EEG) that can be used to detect changes and abnormalities in the cerebral function of patients in neonatal and paediatric intensive care units. Initially the device will target newborn and paediatric care and there care currently more than 100 monitors in use globally.

"It was always going to be fairly tightly held stock with the potential for BrainZ in the next 12-24 months," Vaughan said. "Shareholders are happy to be long-term investors and we don't really want the share price to come up too quickly.

"We are really happy that we have sophisticated investors -- it is an affirmation of the value of the company. We are happy to be oversubscribed, and are a good medium-term prospect."

Former WMC chairman Hugh Morgan has become the second largest shareholder in BrainZ with his company First Charnock taking a 3.33 per cent stake behind BrainZ's parent company, Tru-Test, which retains a 56.6 per cent holding. JT Campbell & Company, which conducted the IPO raising, has also taken a piece of the pie, as has Sandhurst Trustees, Morgan's son William through Titan Capital, BT Funds Management and Consolidated Press.

At time of writing BrainZ shares were trading at $0.515.