Financings In Brief

Alma Lasers going public: Maker of non-invasive, energy-based aesthetic treatment devices plans an initial public stock offering worth up to $86.3 million. The proceeds are tabbed primarily for debt repayment, as well as "for general corporate purposes, including for strategic acquisitions," Alma says. The Israel-based firm reported sales of $62 million for the first nine months of 2007 - roughly the same as for all of 2006 - with a 30% operating profit margin. Competitors in the crowded $1.1 billion global market for energy-based aesthetic treatment devices also include Aesthera, Candela, Cutera, Cynosure, Lumenis, Palomar, Radiancy, Reliant, Sciton, Syneron, Thermage and Ultrashape. The market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 10%, reaching $1.8 billion in 2011, Alma notes in its Jan. 3 prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the stocks of most of Alma's publicly-traded competitors went down last year, due in part to concerns that an economic downturn could curb elective procedure volumes (1"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 21, 2008, p. 7). Underwriters for the proposed IPO include Citigroup Global Markets, UBS Investment Bank, William Blair & Company and Jefferies & Company