Flying start for AFT Pharmaceuticals

AFT Pharmaceuticals Managing Director Hartley Atkinson rings the bell to signal his company sharemarket listing at the NZX in Queen St, Auckland with wife Maree Atkinson. Photo / Getty

Pharmaceutical firm’s stock rises after listing on NZX, raising $35.6m to help fund growth and product launches.

With over $32 million of fresh cash in the bank, AFT Pharmaceuticals is well positioned to ramp-up research and development as it targets product launches and growth in new markets, says its founder.

The Auckland-based company made a solid stock exchange debut yesterday, with its shares closing at $3.10, a 10.7 per cent premium to the $2.80 offer price.

AFT, whose products include Maxigesic pain medication and Maxiclear PE nasal decongestant, raised $35.6 million - $32.6 million of which was new capital to fund growth - in New Zealand's third and final initial public offering of 2015.

The company was founded in 1997 by Hartley and Marree Atkinson and today markets more than 100 products in Australasia, Asia and Europe.

"Getting the R&D going quickly - that's the key reason we raised the money," said Hartley Atkinson. "What we're targeting is 50 to 100 countries to be selling [products] in, in the next two to three years."

Atkinson said around $8 million of the cash raised in the IPO would go towards a 400 patient clinical trial in the United States, set to begin in March, of an intravenous version of Maxigesic, a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen marketed in tablet form in New Zealand and Australia.

Another clinical trial of intravenous Maxigesic, with 30 patients, would take place in Christchurch next year, he said.

The company is also developing the SURF Nebuliser, an ultrasonic medical device for the treatment of chronic sinusitis.

"That is a really exciting development," Atkinson said. "It's in manufacturing at the moment and we'll start clinical studies next year. We're targeting sales in early 2017."

As part of the IPO, the trustees of the Atkinson Family Trust, which is associated with the couple, sold $3 million worth of shares, retaining a 76 per cent stake in the company.

The offer price valued AFT - which had revenue of $56.2 million in the year to March, with a loss of $12.9 million - at $269 million.

By market close last night the firm's market capitalisation had risen to $300.2 million.

The company did not provide forecasts in its IPO prospectus, saying uncertainty surrounding its plans for growth would have made any guidance it provided too unreliable.

AFT Pharmaceuticals

• Raised $35.6 million in IPO, of which $32.6 million was new growth capital.

• Founded in 1997 by Hartley and Marree Atkinson.

• Products include Maxigesic, Maxiclear and Nausicalm.