Riverdeep of Ireland, which last year acquired the existing activities of Israeli firm Logal for a mere $5.2 million, went public last week and is already trading at $1.5 billion value.
Logal, which changed its name to SimPlayer, went public in the US in 1996 and recorded heavy losses from that point onwards until the company decided to sell its primary activity; development and marketing of educational software accessible via CD Rom and the Internet.
Riverdeep belongs to Irish entrepreneur Patrick McDonagh and was listed simultaneously on the US and Irish bourses. In its IPO, the company raised $120 million (at $20 per share), and tripled its value on the first day of trading. At the end of last week, Riverdeep shares traded at $55.5.
SimPlayer (the former Logal), managed by Yoel Givol, has a current trading value of $70 million, after having risen almost 600% since the beginning of the year. The company focuses on developing technologies that enable raw data to be collected from the Internet, which is then presented visually; mainly statistical information on sports, weather, and finance.
In February of this year, SimPlayer raised $6 million in a private placement, raising the company's cash balance to $10 million.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on March 19, 2000.