Danish statutory pensions giant ATP announced it is investing in unlisted medical technology firm MedTrace, participating in a DKK180m (€24m) equity injection into the company alongside institutional investors Swisscanto Invest, BankInvest and others.
The firm, which has developed an automated technology that makes radioactive water available for diagnostic heart imaging in hospitals, said the new capital would be used to develop its cancer diagnostics work, among other things.
Claus Berner Møller, deputy director of Danish equities at ATP, said: “We hope, long term, to be able to pave the way for an IPO for MedTrace in Denmark.”
The DKK907bn (€122bn) Danish pension fund said MedTrace’s new technology made it possible to produce the radioactive water within the scanning rooms themselves, which allowed scans to be carried out at a faster rate.
ATP said this would also increase scanning accuracy by around 50%, and that the niche technology had an estimated global market potential of DKK6bn for heart patients alone.
“We are looking for investment opportunities in all parts of the financial food chain here in Denmark and see MedTrace as a high-tech Danish company with great potential for growth both geographically and on the product side,” said Berner Møller.
ATP said it saw the investment as an opportunity to generate strong returns, while also creating growth and jobs in Denmark.
MedTrace said the capital injection from institutional investors – which it said was the investment equivalent of nearly $30m – would be used for many things.
The money would accelerate the company’s European and US expansion plans, allow it begin clinical studies in the US, “mature the technology towards a clinical solution for cancer diagnostics” – and move it closer to an IPO.
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