Foresight Group announces successful sale of OrthoView Holdings Limited to NASDAQ listed Materialise NV
Foresight Group (Foresight) is delighted to announce, on behalf of the Board of Foresight 3 VCT plc (F3), that it has completed the successful sale of Southampton based OrthoView Holdings Limited (the Company) to Materialise NV (Materialise). Materialise has acquired OrthoView for £8.47 million in cash.
OrthoView software is used by surgeons worldwide to pre-operatively plan orthopaedic surgeries. The OrthoView solution enables digital x-ray images to be scaled to size and provides a comprehensive online library of over 160,000 digital orthopaedic prosthesis templates.
Foresight 3 VCT plc first invested in OrthoView (then Meridian Technique Limited) in 2003, at an early stage in the Company's development. Over the years, OrthoView has developed partnerships with many of the major healthcare IT suppliers, including GE Healthcare, Philips, Agfa and Mckesson. OrthoView has become the world leader in its sector, serving more than 10,000 surgeons across the UK, USA, Europe and numerous other geographies.
Materialise is a leading provider of additive manufacturing software and of sophisticated 3D printing solutions in the medical and industrial markets. The transaction combines the foremost business in the templating of x-ray images with Materialise's market-leading position in 3D pre-operative planning tools to provide surgeons and hospitals a one-stop shop for surgical planning software tools and corresponding 3D printed medical devices.
At 30 June 2014, F3's valuation of its shareholding in OrthoView was £896,514. Under the terms of the sale to Materialise, F3's initial consideration from the sale is c.£1.12m, with a further £234k of consideration placed in escrow in support of warranties, to be released to F3 in two tranches over 24 months.
James Livingston, Director of Foresight and OrthoView (until completion) commented "We are delighted to have supported OrthoView on its journey to become the global leader in its target market. The management team has continually developed the product range to maintain its technical leadership whilst also developing partnerships with some of the world's largest healthcare IT businesses, allowing OrthoView to scale worldwide. We are confident the strong synergies with Materialise will allow OrthoView to flourish in the next phase of its development."
John Chambers, CEO of OrthoView says, "Our journey from technical innovator to global player has been thanks, in no small part, to the continued support of James and Foresight. At each stage Foresight has worked closely with us, from supporting international expansion to introducing the right advisory team to optimise the eventual exit. We look forward to the future with Materialise, our team can now further expand the solutions we offer to surgeons worldwide."
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Ben Thompson: bthompson@foresightgroup.eu / 020 3667 8155