Petratech International Ltd., a developer of innovative automated vehicle identification (AVI) products for fuel delivery under the Gasngo label, has raised $15 million at a company value of $60 million from Alleghany Capital Corporation, a subsidiary of Alleghany Corporation (NYSE: Y). Petratec chairman and its largest shareholder is Mordechai Ben-Shach, a former CEO of Paz Oil Company Ltd. (TASE:PZOL).
Hod Hasharon-based Petratec was founded in 2005 by CEO Avi Yalon and Yoav Vilnai. The company's Gasngo product can oversee and monitor fueling by vehicle fleets.
Petratec operates in the US, Mexico, Russia, and other countries, and it plans to expand to new markets. In Israel, the company has signed an agreement with Paz,w hic will deploy Gasngo systems at Paz gas stations.
Petratec will have $20 million in cash following the investment.
Ben-Shach said, "In the past 18 months, since we began marketing our product overseas, we've had very strong demand for our new technology and services from all over the world. The global rise in fuel prices has led to more careful spending on fuel by companies that operate vehicle fleets. In Israel, which is considered very advanced in this sector, these products have almost halved the fuel used in 90% of vehicle fleets. There is no reason why similar results shouldn’t happen in the whole world. We're now in talks in other countries, and some have even launched pilots. We believe that they will mature into contracts soon."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 24, 2010
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