SafeNet Holdings Inc., which merged with Aladdin Knowledge Systems, is planning a $300 million Nasdaq IPO at a company value of over $1 billion. SafeNet develops encryption and IT security products products.
SafeNet's parent company, Vector Capital, acquired Aladdin, run by its founder Yanki Margalit, in January 2009 for $160 million, and merged the two companies. Aladdin was delisted from Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) as part of the deal.
SafeNet was also once a public company, until it was embroiled in an options backdating scandal, for which its CFO was sent to jail. Vector Capital exploited the plunge in SafeNet's share price, and bought the company for $634 million in April 2007.
In the prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SafeNet said that its Aladdin business had $29 million in sales in the first quarter of 2010, up from $22 million in the corresponding quarter of 2009. SafeNet's consolidated sales rose from $300 million in 2007 to $403.7 million in 2009, partly through acquisitions of Aladdin, Ingrian Networks Inc. and Assured Decisions Inc.
SafeNet is not profitable: it posted a net loss of $49.7 million in 2009, and lost a further $7.4 million in $107.8 million revenue in the first quarter of 2010.
SafeNet said that it would use a large part of the proceeds from the IPO to pare down its $390 million debt, which is due for repayment over the next few years.
SafeNet is based in Maryland. Aladdin's offices and R&D center are in Yehud, outside Tel Aviv.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 13, 2010
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