This will be the main use for the cash from the pre-IPO fund raising, which is being finalised this month by Lombard's new adviser, Code Securities, and for the proceeds of a float this year.Mr Taylor said: "Lombard's key product is a breakthrough second-generation stent that overcomes the problems of slippage and movement that are associated with existing products. It is also the main investor on the current fund raising.The product has won approval in Europe and Lombard is planning to seek approval in the US, the world's most lucrative market for hospital products. Boston Scientific, the US giant, has an option over the European distribution rights to its main product, a 3cm tube to direct blood flow for people suffering abdominal aortic aneurysm, a ballooning of the body's main artery. They were backed by the venture capital groups Lion Capital and Camden Partners.The company has slimmed down to focus on specialist medical devices called stents, which are grafted into the body. After being unable to raise new funds from the public markets, it was taken private by its directors, led by the chairman, Alistair Taylor, and chief executive, Stephen Terry.
The company, which makes highly specialised tubes for redirecting blood flow, is conducting a new fund-raising, after signing a breakthrough distribution deal with a major US medical supplies company. Lombard is raising £3m, valuing the company at £37m, before making a final decision on a new listing in the autumn.The company floated in October 2000 and raised more than £10m to invest in several early-stage medical ventures before running out of cash in 2003. As of the end of last month, Google's founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, owned about 79 per cent of outstanding class B shares.. Lombard Medical, the medical devices company taken private in 2003 after a torrid three years on the stock market, is planning a second flotation. Each share of class B common stock is entitled to 10 votes per share and is convertible at any time into one share of class A common stock. Google also has 102 million class B shares, which carry extra voting power.Each share of class A common stock is entitled to one vote per share.
The deal has been seen as a major assault on eBay, which is trying to boost its presence in China, and on Baidu.The fund raising by Google, which is based in Mountain View, California, will more than double its cash balance, which stood at $2.95bn at the end of June.All of the new shares will be class A, which will total 191 million after the new offering. The company, whose headquarters are in Beijing, saw its stock soar 354 per cent when it listed on Nasdaq two weeks ago, in what was the largest first-day gain since the height of dot boom.Google already owns a 2.6 per cent stake in Baidu, and has a total market capitalisation of nearly $4bn.Jim Friedland, an analyst at the research house SG Cowen, said Baidu is "the only company of any size which fits in with Google's model", but added that the chances of a deal were "50-50 at best".Google's largest US rival, Yahoo!, has made a major foray into China recently, paying $1bn for a 40 per cent stake in the country's web auction site, Alibaba. While Google is the No 1 search engine in the US and in many parts of the world such as the UK, Wall Street believes the company may want to boost its size by acquisition, as well as through its rapid organic growth.One possible target could be Baidu , the search engine which has been dubbed the Google of China. Google added that it has "no current agreements or commitments with respect to any material acquisitions".Google's announcement comes as several major internet companies are snapping up smaller rivals for ever-greater market share. The move comes after an extraordinary year of growth for the company, which floated in the US a year ago today at $85 a share. Since then, Google's shares have more than tripled in value, trading as high as $317.80 in mid July.