Mills Oakley acts on cross-border acquisition, associated capital raise

The transaction involved a number of simultaneous parallel cross-border work streams involving M&A and ECM

Mills Oakley acts on cross-border acquisition, associated capital raise

Mills Oakley has helped an ASX-listed health technology company expand.

The national firm advised Volpara Health Technologies on its acquisition of Seattle-based MRS Systems, as well as on the associated $55m fully underwritten equity capital raising to fund the acquisition and to provide further capital for growth.

Based in New Zealand and a public company in Australia, Volpara develops AI imaging algorithms that are used in the early detection of breast cancer. MRS Systems provides comprehensive patient tracking, communication, and radiology reporting services in the US.

The acquisition, Volpara’s first since it floated in Australia in 2016, quadruples the number of breast clinics that Volpara has access to in the US, Mills Oakley said. The capital raise was made up of an institutional placement and an accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer.

Mills Oakley said that it worked closely with Davis Wright Tremaine, the US counsel of the deal. The offers were lead managed and fully underwritten by Bell Potter Securities, with Morgans Corporate acting as co-lead manager.

“We are pleased to have continued our close association with the Volpara team and to have played a small part in helping Volpara’s ongoing goal of saving families from the impact of breast cancer through the use of its risk-assessment technology. The acquisition and capital raising will allow Volpara to expand its global footprint and will allow an even greater number of women to be screened using Volpara’s advanced technology platform that is clinically proven to assist with the early detection of breast cancer,” said Iain Laughland, lead partner on the deal.

Laughland was supported by associate Renée Gilead, lawyer John Breen, and graduate Darwin Ni. Mills Oakley said that the transaction involved a number of simultaneous parallel cross-border work streams involving M&A and ECM.

Mills Oakley is a longstanding adviser to Volpara, having helped raised more than $100m for the company since 2016.