TranS1 Inc. is now Baxano Surgical, Inc. after the company announced on May 31, 2013 that it completed its acquisition of Baxano, Inc.
Ken Reali, president and CEO of the new Baxano, said the creation of the new company completes a transition to a “high growth medical device company focused on minimally invasive spinal procedures, the fastest area of growth in the spine market. The increased scale of the combined company allows us to offer our surgeon customers a suite of proprietary and differentiated products. Through the continued market penetration of iO-Flex and VEO and the re-launch of AxiaLIF we expect to drive the company into its next phase of growth.”
Upon the closing of the merger the company issued an aggregate of approximately 10.3 million shares of common stock, valued at approximately $20.1 million based on the May 30, 2013 closing price.
The company’s common stock began trading under the new trading symbol “BAXS” on June 3, 2013 and was trading at around $2.25.
The company also issued and sold to certain investors approximately 7.5 million shares of the company’s common stock, at a purchase price of $2.28 per share, resulting in gross proceeds to the Company of $17.2 million.
Management Changes
Greg Welsh, the former vice president of operations of Baxano, was appointed to the same position of the new company effective as of May 31, 2013. Welsh was vice president of operations of Baxano from January 2013 through May 31, 2013. Prior to that, he was the vice president of manufacturing from January 2012 to January 2013, senior director of operations from August 2009 to January 2012, and director of operations from March 2008 to August 2009. Prior to joining, Welsh was director of production at Avantis Medical Systems from 2007 to 2008 and held various senior management positions at Cierra from 2006 to 2007 and Boston Scientific/Target Therapeutics from 1996 to 2006.
Welsh holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and holds a management development program certificate from the School of Business at University of Southern California.
Board Changes
Jeffrey Fischgrund, M.D. resigned as a Class III member of the Board and was reappointed as a Class II member of the Board effective as of May 31, 2013. Michael Carusi and Jonathan Osgood tendered their resignations as members of the Board effective as of May 31, 2013; and the Board appointed former Baxano directors Russell C. Hirsch, M.D., Ph.D. and Roderick A. Young to serve as Class III members of the Board effective as of May 31, 2013.
Baxano Surgical, Inc.
The new company describes itself as a “medical device company focused on designing, developing, and marketing products to treat degenerative conditions of the spine affecting the lumbar region. Baxano Surgical currently markets the AxiaLIF family of products for single and two level lumbar fusion, the VEO lateral access and interbody fusion system, and the iO-Flex system, a proprietary minimally invasive set of flexible instruments allowing surgeons to target lumbar spinal stenosis during spinal decompression procedures in all three regions of the spine: central canal, lateral recess, and neural foramen. Baxano Surgical was founded in May 2000 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, visit www.baxanosurgical.com.
