With the fourth listing this year, Germany is moving to the centre of the European IPO market. The medical technology company Brainlab from Munich is moving ahead with a flotation on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange regulated market (Prime Standard).

Bookbuilding is expected to begin on 23 June. Berenberg and Deutsche Bank are Joint Global Coordinators. in charge of the IPO in the Prime Standard; Commerzbank, Jefferies and Unicredit/Kepler Cheuvreux are acting as Joint Bookrunners.

According to finance industry sources, the company is aiming for issue proceeds of 600 million euros from existing and new shares, giving the company a total valuation of around 3 billion euros. This would make Brainlab, alongside the online car spare parts retailer Autodoc from Berlin, which is also in the pre-marketing phase, the third largest IPO in Europe so far this year.

The Swabian power grid supplier Pfisterer (38% price increase since IPO) and the software company Innoscripta (minus 17%) from Munich had previously been listed on the stock exchange in the less regulated open market.

Brainlab is a specialist in software-supported surgery on the brain, tumours, the spinal column, neural pathways and the treatment of epilepsy. The technology can also be used to control radiotherapy in oncology more precisely. According to Chairman of the Supervisory Board and company founder Stefan Vilsmeier, Brainlab has developed „the Google Maps for surgery“ – with the individual patient's anatomy as a map. The Brainlab technology navigates the surgeon during the operation by transferring the image into the field of vision of the data glasses from the US company Magic Leap. Its customers include 4,000 hospitals around the world.

Vilsmeier had already written a book on the construction of 3D objects at the age of 19. The now 58-year-old dropped out of his computer science studies to found Brainlab in 1989, which he financed with the proceeds from the book. Since then, the company has grown steadily – by 10% annually since 2001 and by 14% annually since 2022.

In 2024, Brainlab had 2,000 employees and a turnover of 470 million euros, most of which is recurring, with an operating profit margin (EBITDA) of 16.5%. The data subsidiary Snke (pronounced „Snake“) with 3% of sales and 300 employees will be spun off. In the first half of the 2024/25 financial year, Brainlab generated sales of 239 million euros and an operating profit margin of 22.4%.

Vilsmeier is still the main owner with more than 50.1% of the shares. In 2024, after 35 years as CEO, he handed over the CEO position internally to electrical engineer and software developer Rainer Birkenbach, who has worked for Brainlab from the very beginning. Since 2018, the German private equity firm EMH Partners has been a further shareholder with 35.1% - alongside the management and employees with 14.8%.

Comparable competitors of Brainlab are digital medical technology companies such as the US companies Intuitive Surgical and Stryker or Medtronic from Dublin. In addition to a partial exit of the previous owners, who are selling shares, a capital increase of 200 million euros is planned, which will be used to drive growth and reduce some of the 230 million euros in debt.