Oyster tipped to sell part of HealthBeacon stake in IPO

Bill McCabe’s firm is medtech player’s largest shareholder with 17% stake worth €12.8m

HealthBeacon has developed a solution that helps patients better adhere to injectable medications schedules. Photograph: iStock
HealthBeacon has developed a solution that helps patients better adhere to injectable medications schedules. Photograph: iStock

Belfast-born entrepreneur Bill McCabe’s Oyster Capital is expected to sell down part of its stake in HealthBeacon as the medical technology company prepares to float on the stock market in Dublin next month.

Oyster Capital, an early backer of HealthBeacon, is the company’s largest shareholder with a 17 per cent stake, worth about €12.8 million. That’s based off an estimated €75 million valuation on the company, prior to its planned €25 million equity raise through an initial public offering (IPO) that’s on track to complete in the middle of December.

HealthBeacon said that certain existing shareholders may also sell down some of their holdings into the market subject to investor demand for the IPO shares.

Market sources said Oyster Capital, an investment vehicle owned by Mr McCabe, is preparing to place some of its 1.99 million HealthBeacon shares on the stock market in a so-called secondary sale. However, it is expected to remain a major shareholder following the €100 million flotation.

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Efforts to secure comment from Mr McCabe were unsuccessful.

HealthBeacon has developed a solution that helps patients better adhere to injectable medications schedules.

Sharps bin

Its flagship product is a US Food and Drug Administration-approved smart sharps bin for use by patients who inject medication at home. The bin, which is a little bigger than a standard toaster, is digitally connected to an individual’s smartphone and is used for the disposal of injector pens and syringes as well as to track individual patients’ adherence to medication regimes and to remind them to stay on track if necessary.

The company forecasts it will have about 10,200 units deployed to patients using its system by the end of 2021, with a near-term target of having 100,000 units deployed by the end of 2023. It was co-founded in Dublin in 2013 by chief executive and Boston native Jim Joyce and chief technology officer Kieran Daly. Former tánaiste Mary Harney is on its board of directors, while equity backers also include Enterprise Ireland, Cantor Fitzgerald and Elkstone Partners. Goodbody Stockbrokers is managing the IPO of HealthBeacon which currently has over 50 employees, about 30 of whom are based in Dublin. It plans to grow the team to 150 over the next 24 months, with the Irish workforce expanding proportionately to 90.

Joe Brennan

Joe Brennan

Joe Brennan is Markets Correspondent of The Irish Times