Merit Medical Systems Falling On Offering

Merit Medical Systems, Inc. MMSI shares are falling sharply on heavy volume, down more than 3%, as the company priced a secondary offering this morning at $16.75 per share. Shares are much higher than that level, trading at $17.97, as the company sold 4.8 million shares in the offering. Merit expects to receive $76.1 million from the sale of the stock, $87.6 million if the underwriter purchases the additional shares to cover the over-allotments. Piper Jaffray was the sole manager on this offering. Merit will use the proceeds from the offering to repay approximately $25 million of debt, expand manufacturing facilities, for potential strategic acquisitions, and general corporate purposes. At last check, shares of Merit Medical Systems were trading off 61 cents to $17.96 on nearly 1 million shares.