Livsmed, a medical device manufacturer seeking a KOSDAQ listing, has cleared the Korea Exchange's screening threshold.
According to the financial investment industry on the 13th, Livsmed obtained approval for the preliminary listing review from the KOSDAQ Market Division of the Korea Exchange that day. It came 159 days after the review application on May 7.
Livsmed started in 2011 as a medical device development startup. Its flagship product is the multi-joint laparoscopic surgical instrument "ArtiSential," which can rotate 90 degrees up, down, left, and right, and it posted 27.1 billion won in sales last year on a consolidation basis.
The company accelerated its listing attempt after receiving "AA" and "A" grades in a technology evaluation late last year. But a patent dispute emerged as a wild card, delaying the review.
Uncertainty over the Korea Exchange's review grew after ACH Medical, a medical device manufacturer, sent a cease-and-desist warning over alleged patent infringement to Livsmed in Apr. and then filed a patent infringement lawsuit last month.
The view is that a final win in the recent patent dispute led to approval of the preliminary listing review. On the 1st, the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board invalidated a patent held by ACH Medical.
Specifically, in Jun., Livsmed filed two invalidation trials and two scope confirmation trials with the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board to counter ACH Medical's patent infringement claims, and won at the first instance.
Livsmed is said to be set to submit a securities registration statement this month and formally begin the IPO process. In the market, post-listing corporate value estimates for Livsmed are cited at over 1 trillion won.