Advanced Interventional Plans Stock Buyback

IRVINE — Advanced Interventional Systems said Friday that it plans to repurchase about 4% of its outstanding common stock in the open market, taking advantage of the stock’s low value.

“The price is right,” President Tom Allen said.

Advanced Interventional’s stock, which trades on the over-the-counter market, closed Friday at $5 a share, up 25 cents.

The stock price, as high as $21 in early February, has been dropping steadily. Allen, during questioning at a shareholders’ meeting earlier this week, was unable to account for the decline.

The company, which in January received final federal approval for its cold laser device for treating arterial disease, said it will use its stock buyback in connection with the planned acquisition of Polymicro Technologies Inc. in Phoenix, a supplier of fiber-optic tubing and related products.

The Polymicro takeover will provide catheters for Advanced Interventional’s Excimer laser device, which clears arteries clogged with plaque. Company officials said they hope the device will make bypass surgeries obsolete.

The buyback of as many as 400,000 of the company’s 9.4 million outstanding shares will also provide stock to be used in Advanced Interventional’s employee stock option plan.