JENA, Germany—Carl Zeiss Meditec (ISIN: DE0005313704) said it would raise up to 300 million euros ($324 million) in a share issue to help finance acquisitions. The company based here, is increasing its share capital by up to 10 percent, minus one share. In total up to 8,130,960 new shares will be offered to institutional investors by way of an accelerated bookbuilding process with the exclusion of subscription rights.

“Given the current dynamics and consolidation trends in our markets, we see significant opportunities in the short to medium term to accelerate our growth through selective acquisitions,” Dr. Ludwin Monz, president and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec, said in a statement.

“A number of projects in different size brackets are being considered, for which we aim to substantially increase our financial power and flexibility with the current transaction, improving our position for potential future acquisitions. We continuously aim to further expand our already very successful strategy as a global solutions provider in ophthalmology and microsurgery with additional growth initiatives.”

Parent company Carl Zeiss AG [CZTOP.UL] which owns 65 percent of the medical company will not participate in the capital increase. As a result, the free float will increase to about 41 percent of the shares in issue after the capital increase from 35 percent currently, according to Carl Zeiss Meditec.