Aroa shares double on ASX debut

Aroa Biosurgery founder, CEO and major shareholder Brian Ward. Photo / Supplied

Shares in Kiwi bio-tech company Aroa Biosurgery doubled when they commenced trading on the Australian Securities Exchange today.

The shares surged to as much as A$1.56 and were recently at A$1.345.

The listing follows an initial public offering, comprising 40 million new shares at 75 Australian cents and 20 million shares sold down by early investors, which valued the company at A$225 million.

Auckland-based Aroa said its A$45 million IPO received solid support from institutional investors and a "strong vote of confidence" from existing shareholders who subscribed for approximately half of the funds raised.

In the year ended March, the company received $22 million of revenue and $18 million in gross profit from its wound healing products.

The company sees that as just the start and is eyeing a total addressable market of US$2.5 billion in the United States.

Skin regeneration

Founded in 2008, the company's soft tissue regeneration technology, derived from sheep forestomach, was developed to improve the rate and quality of healing in complex wounds and soft tissue reconstruction.

Its range of five products has been used in more than four million procedures to date in a market worth US$1.5 billion. A pipeline of new products, including breast implants and reconstructive devices, will add an estimated US$1 billion to that potential market once commercialised.

"We have a proprietary technology that is scalable and efficient, targeting significant addressable markets," said founder and chief executive Brian Ward, who retains an 11 per cent stake in the company after the IPO.

"I'm excited to share the growth in value of the business with both new and current investors as part of this IPO as well as with the committed board, management and staff behind the company."

Andrew Bascand, managing director of Harbour Asset Management, said they went up against a lot of interest and competition to get involved in the company.

"I think they have managed through the covid period reasonably well and I'm very excited about this opportunity they now have with proven technology continued to grow into the US," he said.

Aroa has been in the US market for some time with its skin grafting and hernia products, Bascand said, and there was more opportunity to grow that market alongside the new breast implant technology.

"This is long term, patient investing, he said. "There are 10-year pathways ahead for these companies. That's exactly what we do; start small and grow with them."