SR medical device maker would be 3rd local firm to go public this year

Medical device maker TriVascular Technologies seeks to raise $100 million from an initial public offering of stock, funds that would go toward expanded marketing of its abdominal stent graft system as well as paying of a loan from Boston Scientific, according to a prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

If successful, TriVascular would be the third North Bay company to go public this year, following Novato-based rare-disorder drug developer Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical on Jan. 31 and Santa Rosa-based pharmaceutical developer Ruthigen on March 24.

Santa Rosa-based TriVascular would offer shares on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol "TRIV," according to the March 10 filing. The IPO is being jointly managed by J.P. Morgan Securities and Credit Suisse Securities, while Stifel Nicolaus & Co. and Canaccord Genuity are co-managers.

A portion of the proceeds from the IPO would go toward repaying a $3.5 million loan, plus accrued interest, to Boston Scientific, which used to own TriVascular.

The remaining proceeds would help fund additional research and development, expanded sales and marketing infrastructure and for working capital and "general corporate purposes," the company said in its filing.

TriVascular's Ovation system, which the company describes as the lowest-profile commercially available device for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2012 and by the European Commission in August 2010. It has been used to treat more than 3,000 patients across 25 countries in clinical trials, according to the company.

The company reported a net loss of $50.3 million last year on revenues of $19.5 million. It had a deficit of $238.5 million through last year, and cash and equivalents totaled $38.1 million, according to the prospectus.

In 2005, the company was acquired by Boston Scientific, which later closed TriVascular as a cost-cutting measure. TriVascular returned in 2008 after raising $65 million to re-acquire itself from Boston Scientific.

TriVascular in November said it closed a $40 million series E round of financing. The company had 125 employees at the end of 2013, up from 72 a year before, the prospectus said.

The company also has a long-term loan of $40 million with Capital Royalty Partners, but that loan would not be payed off from any IPO proceeds, according to the filing.