Orthocell considers IPO push

Biotech player Orthocell has appointed two financial advisory firms to seek out investors as part of the company’s plans to go public.

Orthocell has hired Azure Capital and Sydney-based KTM Capital to assist with a possible ASX listing, just weeks after the company acquired intellectual property for tendon tissue regeneration technology.

An Orthocell spokesperson declined to comment on specifics but said the company was considering all capital options.

Orthocell holds the intellectual property rights for Ortho-ATI – a world first tendon stem-cell treatment for degenerated tendon tissue – and Celgro, which helps repair soft tissue damage.

The company recently bought the two pieces of intellectual property from its research partner, the University of Western Australia, for an undisclosed sum.

The Ortho-ATI technology involves a biopsy of healthy tendon tissue, which is grown and nurtured in a laboratory before being injected into damaged tendons to regenerate the tissue.

Ortho-ATI is commercially available, while Celgro, which is a collagen-based scaffold that assists in repairing soft tissue, is at the human trial stage.

Earlier this month the company appointed Stewart Washer as chairman. Dr Washer is also chairman at Cynata Therapeutics, which is developing stem cell therapies, and Minomic International, which has a non-invasive test for prostate cancer.

If successful, the Orthocell initial public offering would be the third float by a WA-based company so far this year, after IPOs by Stavely Minerals and Pioneer Credit, according to BNIQ.

Copper and gold-focused Stavely began trading on the ASX this month after raising $6.1 million for exploration activities at its tenements in Victoria.

Pioneer Credit also began trading this month after its $40 million IPO, in which it offered 55 per cent of its capital.

If it goes ahead, the Orthocell IPO would be one of few recent WA-based biotechnology listings in recent years.

Nationally, however, there has been something of a revival in capital raisings in the sector, with 13 deals in all states raising $90.3 million in 2013.

Among these was a $16.5 million transaction for Innate Immunotherapeutics, which was advised by Patersons Securities and Morgans.