Although its devices treat a potentially large population of patients suffering from various heart and vascular conditions, Plymouth-based AGA Medical Corp. could find the response to its public offering a bit cool.
"Although they serve some of the bigger markets in medical devices, their filing comes at a time that is clearly very challenging," said Jay Hare, partner of the Technology Industry Group at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Minneapolis.
AGA filed to go public with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, with hopes of raising up to $200 million, at a time when the stock market is especially volatile.
The medical device firm did not disclose the expected number of shares or price range.
If AGA goes public it will be the first in the state to do so this year; no Minnesota company has completed an initial public offering (IPO) since November. The company would be listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker AGAM.
In 2008, two Minnesota-based medical companies have withdrawn planned IPOs: Vision-Ease Lens Corp. and Transoma Medical. A software company, IDS Group Inc. of Minneapolis, filed for an $86 million offering in February but has not yet completed the deal.
AGA was co-founded in 1995 by medical device pioneer Dr. Kurt Amplatz, who for many years worked as a professor and researcher at the University of Minnesota's Department of Radiology. The company's signature product repairs holes in the heart's interior wall using a minimally invasive technique that avoids the need for open-heart surgery.
AGA is involved in clinical trials to determine whether closing the patent foramen ovale (PFO), or a small hole in the heart, with its Amplatzer PFO Occluder device will reduce the incidence of some types of strokes and migraines. AGA estimates the market for a device treating strokes could be as high as $1 billion.
