Orion Health Group, which develops software systems for patient health management, plans to use money raised in a public offer to further increase its research and development capacity.
The Auckland-based company wants to raise up to $150 million in an initial public offer (IPO) which would value the firm at more than $900 million and give public investors up to 17.4% of the company.
New shares will be issued along with Orion founder Ian McCrae selling up to $5 million of his shares and those of associated interests.
Mr McCrae is expected to retain ownership of around half of the company on completion of the IPO and immediately before listing.
Orion chairman Andrew Ferrier said there was a growing awareness of the huge potential to deliver better health outcomes for patients and more effective and efficient systems for those who provided and paid for healthcare through the intelligent use of health data.
''The health industry is undergoing a transformation change and Orion Health is positioned in a 'sweet spot'.''
While the traditional software business continued to grow, a new category of customers, United States health insurers, were now keen to investigate software solutions like those provided by Orion to help tackle the unsustainable costs of healthcare at a time individuals were demanding greater control over their health, he said.
Apart from increasing the R&D capacity of the company, the listing would help improve service delivery and provide additional financial liquidity.
Mr McCrae said the IPO and sharemarket listing was another milestone in Orion's 21-year history.
In the past 10 years, the company had achieved a compound average annual growth rate in operating revenue of 26% to $153 million for the year ended March 2014.
Healthcare was yet to experience the online transformation seen in other industries.
''I believe it will inevitably go through this transformation and the impact will be similar to the way search engines transformed the use of the internet.''
The US was Orion's largest market, generating 58% of operating revenue in the 2014 financial year, he said.
Healthcare costs were rising to unsustainable levels, driven by a huge amount of waste and the ageing population, making payers, including governments and healthcare providers, interested in using digital solutions to get greater efficiency and improved health outcomes.
In the US, health spending accounted for 18% of GDP while OECD countries spent an average of 13% of GDP.
An estimated $US910 billion ($NZ1.15 trillion) of healthcare expenditure was wasted in the US in 2011, according to a paper published in 2012.
''Reducing even a small proportion of that wastage offers significant savings and a huge opportunity for Orion Health,'' Mr McCrae said.
Orion had customers in 25 countries, including New Zealand, Australia, the US, Canada, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Europe and Asia, across its intelligent integration, smarter hospitals and healthier populations solution groups.
At a glance
• Orion Health registered its prospectus yesterday in preparation for a dual listing in New Zealand and Australia on November 26.
• Indicative share price range of between $4.30 and $5.75 has been set.
• Final price set by book build process to be conducted on November 6 and 7.
• Retail offer opens on November 10 and closes on November 21.
