Sources inform ''Globes'' that Fortissimo Capital is raising its second fund in the amount of $150 million. The private equity company appears to be unconcerned by the whiff of recession in the air and predictions about shrinking global investment. Fortissimo declined to comment on the report.
Fortissimo invests in technology companies in "special situations". Yuval Cohen founded the company in 2003. Its fund totaled $80 million. According to IVC Online, the fund's main investors include Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) unit Migdal Capital Markets Ltd. ($40 million), Bank Yahav for Government Employees Ltd., Israel Discount Bank's (TASE: DSCT) Pension Funds and Discount Capital Markets & Investments Ltd., Israel Phoenix Assurance Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5), Kagam Pension Fund, Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) Gemel provident fund and Leumi & Co., Makefet Pension Fund, Mivtachim Pension Fund, Poalim Capital Markets, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank's (TASE:MZTF) Gemel provident fund. The banks have since sold their provident funds.
Fortissimo apparently plans to retain the kind of investors for its second fund, and has begun making the round among Israeli institutional investors. Sources said that the company's prospectus states that it will continue to invest in public and private technology and manufacturing companies.
Fortissimo's investments include Telrad Networks Ltd., RadView Software Ltd. (Bulletin Board:RDVWF), Crow Technologies (1977) Ltd. (Bulletin Board:CRWTF), Answers On Demand Ltd., and Soda-Club Enterprises NV.
The company has had one exit to date: the sale its 55% stake in Nur Macroprinters Ltd. (Pink Sheets:NURMF), acquired for $12 million, to Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) for $123 million. It has also set up a blank check company Fortissimo Acquisition Corp. (Bulletin Board:FSMOU). Fortissimo Acquisition has a deal to acquire Psyop, a New York-based company that develops digital content for the global advertising market, for $29.4 million:
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 27, 2008
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