Micrus Corporation Announces Completion of $21.2 Million Preferred Stock Financing with European and U.S. Institutional Investors

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BW HealthWire)–Sept. 15, 2000

Micrus Corporation today announced that the Company completed the placement of $21.2 million of Series D Convertible Preferred Stock with an investor group led by NMT New Medical Technologies of Switzerland.

The investor group was composed of NMT, MicroValue AG (Switzerland), PolyTechnos Venture-Partners (Germany & Belgium), Dresdner Kleinwort Benson (US/Europe/Asia) and UBS affiliate aventic AG (Switzerland), as well as certain U.S. investors and current shareholders of the Company.

“I am delighted to be working with this international group of investors,” said J. Todd Derbin, president & chief executive officer of Micrus. “They are of the highest caliber, and will contribute much to Micrus with their expertise. Micrus is now solidly positioned to focus on becoming the market leader in the development of high value added therapeutic devices for interventional neuroradiology.”

“NMT led this financing because the first business opportunity for Micrus is in Europe,” commented NMT partner Andre Lamotte. Micrus Corporation, based in Mountain View, Calif., is a closely held, private company developing therapeutic systems for the minimally invasive treatment of neurovascular disease. Micrus’s lead product, the ACT(TM) MicroCoil System, is designed for the treatment of ruptured or unruptured cerebral aneurysms. More than 70 patients have been treated with the ACT System worldwide, and Micrus Corporation is currently launching the ACT MicroCoil System in the European market, where it has already been approved for commercial sale.

“The usage of coils for cerebral aneurysms is higher in Europe,” said Lamotte. “That is why the ACT MicroCoil System got high attention when it was recently presented at the European Society of Neuroradiology conference in Oslo, Norway.”

To spearhead the launch of its lead product in the promising European markets, Micrus will establish its headquarters in Switzerland, while keeping its technical and manufacturing center in Mountain View as its U.S. operational headquarters. “Micrus is the first of a series of companies for whom NMT wants to establish operations also in Switzerland,” said Lamotte.

New Medical Technologies, based in Basel, Switzerland, (www.nmt.ch) is a life science venture capital firm which invests in start-up companies in Switzerland and the surrounding alpine rim regions, and in late-stage private and public companies worldwide. NMT was founded in 1997 by UBS AG, Roche Finance Ltd., Prof. Dr. Georges Muller and Dr. Andre Lamotte.

MicroValue AG (www.microvalue.ch) is an investment company listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange which concentrates on investing in leading technology companies with innovative and highly specialized microtechnology products and a main focus in the medical device business.

PolyTechnos Venture-Partners (www.polytechnos.com) is a venture capital advisory company with offices in Munich, Frankfurt and Brussels investing in healthcare and technology ventures within Europe, the United States and the Middle East.

Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, the investment banking division of Dresdner Bank AG, invested through its global Private Equity group (www.drkbpe.com), which has $3 billion under management and 10 investment teams making equity and mezzanine investments in private companies across Europe, America and Asia. One of their sectors of specialization is life
sciences.

aventic AG (www.aventic.ch), a private equity affiliate of UBS, specializes in providing equity for innovation and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland.

Roberts Mitani Capital, LLC of New York acted as investment banker and placement agent on behalf of Micrus Corporation in this transaction. Roberts Mitani (www.robertsmitani.com) and its affiliated companies, including Aqua Partners LLC (www.aquapartners.com), provide financial advisory and private equity services to the life sciences industry and other sectors worldwide.

CONTACT: Micrus Corporation
J. Todd Derbin, 650/969-7000
650/969-7100 fax