Trex Medical completes public offering

X-ray vendor Trex Medical this month completed a public stockoffering that raised net proceeds of $49.8 million. Trex, of Danbury,CT, issued 2.9 million shares of stock at $14 a share, includingan over-allotment option of 375,000 shares. The stock was tradingat about $20 a share in mid-July. Parent company ThermoTrex retainsan 80% stake in Trex Medical.

In other Trex Medical news, the company announced that it hassigned a preferred provider deal to supply mammography and stereotacticbiopsy equipment to the Columbia/HCA hospital chain. Columbia/HCAhospitals will be able to purchase Lorad and Bennett mammographysystems and upright stereotactic biopsy devices, as well as Lorad'sprone stereotactic biopsy table.

The deal puts Trex in privileged company: Columbia/HCA hasa close equipment purchasing relationship with GE Medical Systemsas part of the multivendor service and asset management relationshipbetween the companies (SCAN 3/29/95).

Trex Medical CEO Hal Kirshner also reported that Trex has ambitiousplans for the upcoming Radiological Society of North America meetingin December. The company will use the Trex Medical logo at itsbooth for the first time, with subsidiary companies like Lorad,Bennett, XRE, and Continental occupying separate sections of theexhibit.

"We're going to have a very big booth," Kirshnersaid.