Shareholders of medical equipment company Oridion will offer for sale 2-5.6 million shares for up to $232 million. The offer for sale will be carried out on the Swiss SWX New Market (symbol: ORIDN), probably during February.
Oridion’s IPO on the SWX New Market in April 2000 was one of the most successful issues by an Israeli company in Europe and in general. Since the issue, Oridion soared 134% to 67.75 Swiss francs, reflecting a company value of $420 million.
In April Oridion raised $77 million, of which $33 million was by offer for sale. The share price at issue was 29 Swiss franc, and was led by Warburg Dillon Read of the UBS banking group.
At the same time as the announcement of the offer for sale, Oridion published its Q4 2000 financial reports. 2000 revenues totaled $10.3 million, 70% higher than in 1999, while its 2000 loss totaled $6.4 million, compared to a 1999 loss of $9.4 million.
Oridion was founded in 1987 by George Yariv, who now serves as president and CEO. The company develops and manufactures medical devices in two main business divisions: Capnography and Breath Testing.
The company’s products include advanced monitors for carbon dioxide levels in breath. Customers include some of the world’s leading medical equipment companies such as Hewlett Packard and Medronic Physio-Control. Oridion recently signed new contracts with Agilent and Spacelabs Medical, two leading medical equipment companies.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 17 January 2001