Lumenis

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Lumenis

Type	Public
Founded	2001 as Lumenis
Headquarters	Israel
Industry	Manufacturing
Website	www.lumenis.com

Lumenis is a global company, headquartered in Israel, engaged in the business of designing, manufacturing and marketing a line of lasers and other light-based products for use in surgical, dental, ophthalmic, aesthetic and veterinary applications.

[edit] Background

Lumenis was formed by the 2001 acquisition of US-based ophthalmic laser company Coherent Medical by Israeli company ESC Medical. Post acquisition, the merged businesses were rebranded as Lumenis, a name based upon the Latin word for light - Lumen.

The consideration paid for Coherent Medical was a combination of cash, equity and subordinated notes to a total value of USD$203m. To fund the purchase and ongoing working capital requirements, two Israeli banks provided USD$248m of loans to ESC Medical.

Within 18 months of the acquisition, the global ophthalmic laser markets experienced a downturn which impacted upon the Lumenis' profitability, impacted by companies debt burden.

In 2003, due to an ongoing SEC investigation the company did not file an auditors report for the third quarter financials with the NASDAQ exchange upon which Lumenis was trading. Pursuant to NASDAQ regulations, the company was delisted by the NASDAQ on 6 February 2004. The company then continued to trade on the Pink Sheets over-the-counter securities market.

On 3 October 2006, Lumenis announced it as signed a Purchase Agreement with two Israeli private equity firms LM Partners L.P. and Ofer Hi-Tech Group for the issuing of new shares in the company in exchange for an investment of USD$120m. Following the transaction, the new shareholders held approximately 75% of the business.

In conjunction, the company announced that it had come to an arrangement with Bank Hapoalim to restructure the USD$205m of outstanding debt including a debt writeoff of USD$50m, and cash repayments of USD$85m.

In April 2006, Lumenis settlement with the SEC required re-registration within a year, delisting the stock even from the Pink Sheets. Lumenis re-filed for SEC registration in April 2007, but despite that has not been re-listed on Pink Sheets, making its previous small share holders hopeless.

[edit] Products

Lumenis manufactures primarily laser-based products, and operates within the following markets:

Aesthetic

Including laser hair removal, tattoo removal, aesthetic treatment of skin conditions, scars and blemishes.

Surgical

CO2 and Holdmium/Nd:YAG lasers for a variety of surgical applications.

Ophthalmic

Including general ophthamology, retinal and glaucoma treatments.

Dental

Er:YAG lasers for hard tissue procedures, CO2 for surgical and soft tissue applications, diode lasers for soft tissue and tooth whitening, Intense Pulsed Light systems for dental spa treatments.

Veterinary

Lasers for veterinary surgical applications.