Insurance solutions software developer Sapiens International NV (Nasdaq: SPNS; TASE: SPNS) president and CEO Roni Al-Dor yesterday raised a toast at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) to mark the final payment on the company's bonds earlier this month and the completion of the company's restructuring plan after three years.
Two weeks ago, Sapiens made the fourth and final $5.3 million payment on the principal of its Series A debentures. In the summer of 2006, the company reached a debt settlement with its bondholders to defer payment of the principal, after notifying them that it could not meet the payments without damaging its current business.
Al-Dor said, "We were lucky to reach the settlement then and not now, because today we'd have had to hand over equity." He thanked the bondholders for agreeing to the settlement in 2006, proving that "patience pays".
Sapiens' largest customer is Menorah Mivtachim Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MORA). 32% of the company's revenue comes from Israel, 30% from Europe, and the rest from the US and Japan.
Al-Dor said that Sapiens is transferring all its R&D activity to Israel.
Emblaze Ltd. (LSE: BLZ) subsidiary Formula Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: FORTY; TASE: FORT) owns 70% of Sapiens. Sapiens' share closed at $1.71 on Nasdaq yesterday, giving a market cap of $37 million. The share was unchanged at NIS 6.60 by midday today on the TASE.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2009
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