Medicrea raises $22m, taps Globus Medical co-founder Kienzle

Medicrea (EPA:ALMED) said it raised a funding round worth about $22.3 million for its UniD patient-specific spinal rod technology and tapped GMEd co-founder Richard Kienzle as its new chief commercial & business development officer.

New York City and Lyon, France-based Medicrea said the €20 million round consisted of about $16.8 million (€15 million) in 4-year, 6.75% convertible bonds due August 12, 2020 bought by Athyrium Capital Management and another $5.6 million (€5 million) in equity.

Participants in the equity offering of more than 1 million ALMED shares at €4.86 ($5.43) apiece include Kienzle, president & CEO Denys Sournac, Medicrea’s board and “various U.S. and French investors,” the company said.

ALMED shares were down -2.0% to €5.80 each today in late-market trading in Paris today.

“This financing represents a significant milestone for Medicrea. It is the largest fund-raising undertaken in the company’s history since Medicrea went public in Europe on the Alternext market and attracting such a high- quality U.S. healthcare investor as Athyrium is a true testament to the strong position Medicrea has taken as the leader in personalized spine care,” Sournac said in prepared remarks. “I am equally excited to welcome Rick Kienzle to the Medicrea team. His vast experience in the spine industry will be a significant asset to us as we continue to execute on our growth strategy for UniD.”

“We are pleased to invest in the acceleration of Medicrea’s global commercialization efforts. With UniD, surgeons can more precisely achieve their surgical goals and restore proper sagittal alignment for their patients, a predictor of success for complex spine procedures. The technology’s personalized services and innovative approach to spine surgery offer significant growth potential with tens of thousands of complex multi-level fusions occurring each year in the U.S. We are also glad to see Rick Kienzle joining Medicrea. Rick is a successful spine executive with a deep network in complex spine. We expect he will have a positive impact on the global sales and marketing activities of Medicrea,” added Athyrium partner Richard Pines.

“I am pleased to join Medicrea at such a critical juncture in the company’s development,” Kienzle said. “I believe Medicrea to be a true pioneer in the global spine industry with data-driven, value- based, next-generation and comprehensive solutions for the personalized complex spine market. The U.S. market opportunity is profound. I look forward to working with the entire Medicrea team to deploy these significant resources efficiently and effectively as Medicrea reshapes the complex spine paradigm and rapidly expands its commercialization efforts with UniD and the entire suite of personalized and optimized technologies.”

The company won 510(k) clearance from the FDA for the UniD device in November 2014.

€1 = $1.30325

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