SAN RAMON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Endoscopic Technologies, Inc. (ESTECH™), a leading provider of cardiac surgery devices, announced today that it has appointed John Pavlidis as president and chief executive officer and Terry Kinninger as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. The company also announced that in September it closed on an $11.2 million first tranche of a planned $20 million in equity financing. The financing was led by Saints Capital Everest, a preeminent secondary direct investment firm. Also participating in the first tranche were existing investors Telegraph Hill Partners and Waveland Venture Partners.
Mr. Pavlidis was previously president and CEO of R2 Technology, Inc., a leader in computer-aided detection technology for mammography and lung CT scanning, where he led the company’s turnaround and eventual acquisition by Hologic, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Pavlidis was president of Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.’s worldwide ultrasound business for five years where he led significant restructuring and growth, including the acquisition of Acuson Corporation. Mr. Kinninger has over 25 years of executive experience managing emerging venture capital-backed medical device and technology companies. He was more recently CFO and executive vice president of business development for R2 Technology and COO and CFO of Bridge Medical.
“ESTECH exemplifies our investment criteria of having outstanding intellectual property and technology, solid financial performance and a talented and committed management team,” said Scott Halsted, managing director of Saints Capital Everest, which recently acquired Boston Scientific Corporation’s (BSX) investments in 54 companies, including ESTECH. “We are particularly pleased with the appointments of John Pavlidis, with his successful track record as a CEO, and Terry Kinninger, with his broad and extensive financial and operations background. We are confident that with John’s leadership, along with this new financing, ESTECH is poised to become a global leader in the cardiac surgery industry, particularly within the surgical ablation segment.”
Robert Shepler, managing director of Telegraph Hill Partners, said, “As early investors in ESTECH, we continue to believe strongly in the market growth opportunities for cardiac surgery and that ESTECH is particularly well-positioned in the surgical ablation segment. Data has shown that the company’s COBRA platform enables cardiac surgeons to perform ablation procedures with outstanding effectiveness and safety.”
Mr. Halsted will join ESTECH’s board of directors, as will Mr. Shepler, and Randy Lindholm, a veteran executive in the medical device industry.
John Pavlidis, ESTECH’s new president and CEO, said, “I am eager to lead ESTECH as I believe the company is uniquely poised for growth given its exclusive focus on helping cardiovascular surgeons. Our entire business is dedicated to understanding and better serving the cardiac surgeon whose instrumentation needs have been underserved as they transition to less invasive surgical procedures. We are delighted to work with Saints Capital Everest, Telegraph Hill and Waveland whose funding will enable us to take advantage our company’s significant growth opportunities. This new financing will support our sales force expansion and increased marketing efforts, and will enable us to bring additional innovative products to market.”
About Saints Capital Everest
Saints Capital Everest is a leading direct secondary acquirer of venture capital and private equity investments in emerging growth companies around the globe. Saints also makes traditional direct venture capital investments on a primary basis and in special situations in technology, healthcare, consumer and industrial companies in the United States. Saints is headquartered in San Francisco, with investment professionals throughout Europe and Asia. Saints currently manages funds with investments in more than 100 individual companies totaling more than $1 billion in originally invested capital. For more information, visit www.saintsvc.com.
About Telegraph Hill Partners
Telegraph Hill Partners is a private equity firm focused solely on investing in life science, medical device and healthcare companies with growing revenues, superior economic business models, outstanding management teams and a commitment to profitability. For more information, visit www.thpartners.net.
About Waveland Venture Partners
Waveland Capital Partners provides investment banking services and alternative investment opportunities in venture capital, private equity and the energy sector for its high net worth clients, institutional investors and corporate clients. For more information, visit www.wavelandgroup.com.
About ESTECH
Headquartered in San Ramon, CA, ESTECH is a pioneer in the field of Minimally Invasive Cardiac surgery and RF surgical ablation, and is also a leading supplier of Least Invasive Valve (LiV) surgery and CABG products. In the U.S., ESTECH COBRA® products have a cardiac or soft tissue indication, while in Europe, ESTECH COBRA products are indicated for the surgical treatment of Atrial Fibrillation using RF surgical ablation. The COBRA line comprises the first technology invented, developed and brought exclusively to the surgical ablation market. COBRA ablation products are the first and only devices with the core technologies critical to producing transmural lesions on a beating heart to ensure deep consistent lesions with no gaps when creating any variety of lesion sets. Temperature Controlled RF energy delivery, suction assisted tissue contact and internally cooled devices provide superior ablation performance compared to other ablation systems. ESTECH’s ablation products are protected by a broad portfolio of over 75 issued patents including, but not limited to: U.S. Patent Nos. 7,115,122, 6,830,576, 6,579,288, 6,241,754, 5,651,780, and 5,575,772.
Contact:
ESTECH John Pavlidis, 925-866-7111 Fax: 925-866-7117 jpavlidis@estech.com www.estech.com
Source: Endoscopic Technologies, Inc.
