Opto Circuits may go in for 2nd issue

Opto Circuits (India) Ltd (OCIL), the export-oriented Bangalore-based manufacturer of non-invasive healthcare products which is listed with the US FDA, is exploring the option of a second public issue in the Indian market.

The company, which plans to go in for a $20 million GDR issue (plus $5 million greenshoe option) is "considering various options to raise funds. The capital markets in the country are doing well presently and we would like to make use of that," chairman and managing director Vinod Ramnani said. The option of an FCCB (foreign currency convertible bonds) issue is also being considered.

The manufacturer of non-invasive healthcare products, plans to raise funds for inorganic expansion. It is eyeing two-three companies in the non-invasive healthcare product segment in the US, Ramnani said.

Adressing a press conference here on Thursday after the launch of the company's new products, he said that Opto Circuits is in an advanced stage of acquiring two companies having manufacturing bases in the US, this fiscal.

"We have shortlisted two companies in Boston and southern California and have also identified the third one manufacturing cardiovascular product in the US," he said.

Among the companies shortlisted for acquisition, one is listed on the Nasdaq and the other is a private company, Ramnani said, adding that Opto Circuits aims to spend around $12 million on each of them. Both companies are strong in manufacturing non-invasive healthcare products.

The company, which listed in 2000 and reported net sales of Rs 79.14 crore in 2004-05, up 35 per cent on the previous year, acquired a 60 per cent stake in Advanced Micronic Devices to market its equipment in India.

Opto Circuits is also a leading OEM supplier for GE and Philips.

Opto Circuits is also looking at setting up a new joint venture company with a US firm for dedicated research and development in India.

The company, which presently has 32 R&D engineers at its Bangalore plant, aims to increase the headcount over the years. It is in the process of investing Rs 10 crore into its existing R&D centre in Bangalore, its chief financial officer Bodapati Bhaskar said.

Earlier, the company launched three new innovative products -- thermal printer, multi parameter monitor and waveform-enabled pulse oximeter for the export market. These products will be initially exported to the US. They are priced in the $1,000-$2,500 range.

These new-age products have been developed by the company's in-house R&D division over a period of last 18 months.

The thermal printer, Access, is a multi-font graphics thermal printer. It has a print capacity of 18 lines per second. The multi-parameter monitor (Model 720) has a plethysmographic display of vital parameters like blood pressure, heart rate and temperature.

The other product launched by Opto Circuits is a Pulse Oximeter with Waveform (Model 900). It is an upgrade to display graphical and tabular trends in oxygen saturation and heartbeats.

It is also equipped with reusable and disposable sensors that can be administered on adult, paediatric and neonate patients.

Ramnani said the company is also in talks with the Indian Army for supplying blood warmers. It presently supplies the product to the US forces and successfully used it in the recent Iraq war.