Industry News

Bentley buys key suppliers and engages employees in planned IPO

Bentley has bought its main supplier, the Switzerland-based Qmedics, Bentley has recently announced in a press release. It also announced its plan of initial public offering (IPO), which is planned for autumn/winter 2023/2024, depending on market conditions.

Qmedics manufactures approximately 80% of all balloon catheters used in conjunction with Bentley’s covered stents. Bentley, in turn, is responsible for about 70% of the Swiss company’s sales.

The acquisition, which was signed on 21 April and will come into effect on 3 July, will enable Bentley to secure the central supply chain for balloon catheters in the long term. In addition to balloon catheters, Qmedics has a complete portfolio of self-expanding stents for peripheral endovascular procedures. The acquisition of Qmedics thus represents an opportunity for Bentley to accelerate its expansion into the field of interventional radiology (IR).

Anita Patteet, CEO of Qmedics,

Conference calendar

6–9 June

Leipzig Interventional Course (LINC) 2023

Leipzig, Germany leipzig-interventional-course.com

14–17 June

Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Vascular Annual Meeting 2023 National Harbor, USA vascular.org/vam-2023

22–24 June

23rd European Venous Forum (EVF) Annual Meeting Berlin, Germany europeanvenousforum.org/index.php/meetings said—“I am very pleased that the future of Qmedics is in good hands with Bentley. Together, we will certainly be able to celebrate further market successes.”

Sebastian Büchert, CEO at Bentley, said—“With the acquisition of Qmedics, we not only ensure the availability of one of our most important components, but at the same time complete our newly created product portfolio for [IR].”

Bentley’s planned IPO intends to be completed on the Swedish stock exchange, a part of Nasdaq Nordic, an offshoot of the US technology exchange Nasdaq. A Swedish holding company was set up for the upcoming IPO, which is temporarily called BeThundered AB. This holding company becomes 100% owner of Bentley Innomed GmbH from Hechingen and Qmedics AG, which thus operates as Bentley’s sister company. The pre-IPO, the first step in an IPO, is scheduled for the summer 2023. The actual IPO is planned for the autumn/winter 2023/2024, depending on market conditions.

Bentley is also launching a

29–30 June

British Society of Endovascular Therapy (BSET) Annual Meeting 2023 Wotton-under-Edge, UK bset.co.uk/meetings/bset-annualmeeting-2023

9–13 September

Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) Annual Congress 2023 Copenhagen, Denmark cirsecongress.cirse.org/about/ theannualcongress

€15million employee programme to make all of its employees shareholders. Every employee has received a promise to receive shares worth around 400€ (±100€) per month of their affiliation with the company at the time of the IPO. Büchert explained—“Bentley’s management is very pleased that the previous shareholders have agreed to give the Bentley staff this share gift. Our employees really deserve this for their great work over the past few years.”

AVS’ pulsatile IVL technology attracts an additional US$8.8 million to close US$28.8 million Series B round

AVS has announced that it closed an additional US$8.8 million in new financing, bringing its Series B round to US$28.8 million total.

A press release reports that the funding will continue to support clinical trials for the company’s device for pulsatile intravascular lithotripsy (PIVL) in peripheral cases, while advancing preclinical work for an expanded indication in coronary cases.

“We are pleased to see the investor excitement around this technology,” said Mark Toland, chairman of the board for AVS.

“Intravascular lithotripsy represents an emerging therapy that demands new solutions for patients with severely calcified arterial disease. With the support of our partners, we can continue our work toward US approval for both peripheral and coronary applications.”

AVS notes that it successfully enrolled, treated and collected positive 30-day follow-up with patients in a first-in-human study, the POWER PAD I clinical trial, in September 2022.

The prospective, single-arm, multicentre feasibility study is evaluating the technical and clinical success of the Pulse IVL system for treating patients with calcific femoropopliteal arteries.

The Pulse IVL system is a novel, balloon-based platform that expands calcified lesions by gently shattering calcium with pressure waves in frequent bursts, all through a single device, a press release details.

17–21 September

UIP 2023 World Congress Miami Beach, USA myavls.org/annual-congress-2023.html

26–29 September

European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) Annual Meeting 2023 Belfast, UK esvs.org/events/annual-meeting/annualmeeting-2023

2–4 October

CX Aortic Vienna Vienna, Austria cxaortic.com

29 October–2 November

The VEINS (Venous Endovascular Interventional Strategies) and VIVA (Vascular Interventional Advances) 2023

Las Vegas, USA viva-foundation.org/future-meetings

8–10 November

Paris Vascular Insights (PVI) Paris, France paris-vascular-insights.com

14–18 November

VEITHsymposium 2023 New York, USA veithsymposium.org/index.php