Tene Investment Funds Ltd., which specializes in kibbutz industries, marked up another big exit on Thursday in engineered quartz surfaces maker Caesarstone Sdot Yam Ltd. (Nasdaq: CSTE). Tene and Kibbutz Sdot Yam, sold 7,775,000 shares at $23.25 per share for $181 million. Tene Investment sold 21.3% out of its 23% stake for $170 million, and will probably sell the remaining shares to the underwriters. Caesarstone received no proceeds from the offering.
If the underwriters -, JP Morgan Securities LLC, Barclays Capital Inc., and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC - exercise their over-allotment option, Tene's gross proceeds could increase by $35 million for 1.7% of the company. Kibbutz Sdot Yam sold 1.3% of Caesarstone for $11 million, reducing its stake to 51%.
Caesarstone was floated a year ago at $11 per share, for a company value of $380 million. Its market cap on Friday, after a 4.3% drop in the share price to $22.75, was $781 million - more than double its market cap at the IPO.
Tene Investment made a near four-fold return on its investment in Caesarstone, half which was made directly, and half through a special purpose company jointly established with Leumi Partner Ltd., Emilia Development (OFG) Ltd. (TASE:EMDV), Menorah Mivtachim Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MORA), and The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5). Leumi Partners, which owns 4% of Caesarstone directly, and 1% through the special purpose company, made a cumulate profit of over NIS 100 million on a NIS 35 million investment.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 14, 2013
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013