European fund buys $6.3m Perion stake

Doron Gerstel Photo: Eyal Yitzhar
Doron Gerstel Photo: Eyal Yitzhar

One of Perion's leading shareholders probably sold the shares to the fund.

A European investment fund has spent $6.3 million on buying shares in Perion Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:PERI: TASE:PERI), and will soon report that it has become a party at interest in the Israeli Internet company, sources inform "Globes." The fund acquired 1.9 million shares in Perion in an off-floor transaction at $3.30 per share, a premium on the $3.20 current market price.

Perion's market cap is $83 million. The company's prominent shareholders, one of whom probably sold the shares to the fund, are Ronen Shilo, Dror Erez, and Orly Rinat, who formerly worked at Conduit. They have held shares in Perion since 2013, when Perion acquired Conduit's toolbar division in a share deal that created a company with a value of $920 million.

Following steep decline in the company's results caused by changes in the market, Perion's share price plunged. The shareholders who came from Conduit, headed by Shilo, sparked an activist campaign that culminated in the resignation of the then-CEO Josef Mandelbaum.

Perion, managed by CEO Doron Gerstel, develops software and provides services in order to help developers of software and apps in distribution and monetization. The company will publish its financial statements for the fourth quarter of 2018 and the full year on February 13. The company's guidance says that its EBITDA will be in the $29-32 million range. Perion reduced its debt from $87 million at the end of 2016 to $39 million.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 24, 2019

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019

Doron Gerstel Photo: Eyal Yitzhar
Doron Gerstel Photo: Eyal Yitzhar
Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018