Premier Bionics' IPO set to make target

Device and diagnostics investment company Premier Bionics is on track to close its initial public offering tomorrow (May 17) oversubscribed.

Chief executive officer Dr Martin Soust said the company looked set to reap an extra $500,000 or more on top of the forecast raising of $3 million.

"We have been delighted with the response in what I think it would be an understatement to call a weak market," Soust said.

While he would not say who the major shareholders were likely to be, Soust said the IPO had received institutional applications, adding that the company would achieve a "pretty good spread" of investors.

The IPO, launched on May 2, was predominantly intended to raise cash for Premier Bionic's first investment, Pulmosonix, a Monash University spin-off formed to develop technology for non-invasive monitoring of lung inflation.

The company plans to invest up to $1.25 million in Pulmosonix to help it develop a working prototype of the technology, which is expected to be of particular use in the treatment of premature infants and adults with respiratory disease.

Before the IPO, Premier Bionics raised $350,000 in seed capital, which included a $220,000 initial commitment to Pulmosonix.

Soust said Premier Bionics was an investment portfolio company, incorporated last December, which was focussed on devices and diagnostics in the local market.

He said that while the company had been focused entirely on the pending float, it was looking for investments beyond Pulmosonix.

"We will be looking at opportunities pretty aggressively as soon as we have listed," Soust said.

The company is expecting to list on the Australian Stock Exchange on May 29.

Under the IPO, which is fully underwritten by Peregrine Corporate, 15 million ordinary shares have been offered at 20 cents each, with two free options issued for every three shares purchased.

The company has estimated a post-float market capitalisation of $4.3 million.