Microport Is Weighing an IPO of Heart Valve Implant Business

(Bloomberg) -- Microport Scientific Corp., a Shanghai-based medical device maker, is considering a Hong Kong initial public offering for its heart valve replacement business, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company could raise about $200 million selling shares of the unit that’s developing transcatheter aortic valve implants, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. Deliberations about a possible stock offering are at an early stage, and they may not result in an IPO of the business, said the people.

A wider range of health-care companies are planning to list in Hong Kong after the city’s bourse relaxed rules earlier this year to allow IPOs from pre-profit biotech firms. Ascletis Pharma Inc. is taking orders this week for an offering of as much as $457 million. U.S.-based Stealth BioTherapeutics Inc. and China’s Hua Medicine Ltd. are among firms that have also filed to list since the rule change.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement surgery is a minimally invasive procedure that implants an artificial valve without removing the old one. It addresses a narrowing of the aortic valve opening, called aortic stenosis. A representative for Microport said the company had no comment at this time.

Shares of Microport, which listed in Hong Kong in 2010, have risen about 42 percent over the last 12 months, giving the company a market value of about $1.7 billion.

To contact the reporters on this story: Crystal Tse in Hong Kong at ctse44@bloomberg.net;Manuel Baigorri in Hong Kong at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert, Edwin Chan

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