Creo Medical has been floated on the Alternative Investment Market, raising £20m (Insider Media, 2016).

The company, which is based in Chepstow, is developing a range of surgical devices that can dissect tissue while using special microwaves to staunch the blood flow. These are designed to be used with an endoscope to reduce the need for open surgery.

Shares were admitted today priced at 76p, giving Creo Medical a market capitalisation of about £61.3m. It has raised £20m through a placing of about 26.3 million shares with institutional investors.

Finance Wales first invested in Creo Medical in 2012 and has since provided more than £3m over multiple funding rounds, with an additional £1.9m to support the initial public offering. Creo joins a number of Finance Wales portfolio companies to be listed on AIM, including Diurnal, Enfis, and Medaphor. Another Finance Wales portfolio company, Q-Chip, has become Midatech Pharma Wales after being acquired by MidaTech with a concurrent AIM listing.

Speaking prior to admission, Steve Smith, director of Technology Venture Investments at Finance Wales, said “Creo Medical is the fourth Finance Wales portfolio company to list on AIM in the last four years. Our initial investment in 2012 led them to relocate their headquarters and product development facility to Chepstow. We’ve since supported them over multiple rounds of equity investment and leveraged significant private and corporate co-investment in the process. It’s exciting to see yet another Welsh life science company list after support from our Technology Venture Investments team. Raising £20m in their debut on AIM will allow them to complete key product development programmes, secure regulatory approvals and drive early sales in Europe and the US.”

Following the admission of the shares, Finance Wales has a 16.57% stake in the Creo Medical. Other shareholders include Hargreave Hale, Legal & General Group, HOYA Group PENTAX Medical and founder Chris Hancock.