The focus of attention in Ampal - American Israel Corporation’s (Nasdaq: AMPL) financial report, published last Thursday, was presumably Israel 10, whose future is in doubt. However, it is also possible to learn about Ampal’s diverse high-tech investments. For instance, Ampal invested $2 million in Enbaya, as part of a $5 million investment by Poalim Capital Markets, Scoop and other investors. Enbaya closed in late 2002, due to financial difficulties.
In 2002, Ampal wrote off its investment in Netformx, a developer of design and monitoring solutions for communications networks, in which it had a 19.6% stake. Ampal did not participate in Netformx’s $750,000 financing round in January 2003, although it provided a $200,000 bridging loan in February.
OphirTech, an investment company in which Ampal has a 42.5% stake, invested only $900,000 in existing start-ups in 2002, while predicting the closure of Celvibe and Elpas’s merger with Visonic Group, announced two weeks ago.
Elpas’s shareholders received 15% of Visonic’s shares. OphirTech owned 11.8% of Elpas before the merger, thanks to investing $1.7 million in the company over the years - investments it wrote off.
Remember that Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) acquired Pelican Security a month ago? Ampal’s report reveals that the price was only $800,000. OphirTech owned 15.7% in Pelican, after investing $1.6 million in the company.
In financial terms, Ampal’s largest investment to date has been in XACCT Technologies, amounting to $12.8 million over several years, including $200,000 in 2002, giving Ampal a 16.9% stake in XACCT as of December 31, 2002. Ampal also invested $700,000 in PowerDsine; $700,000 in Cerel Ceramics Technologies; and $1.3 million in Shellcase (TSX:SSD), which raised an additional $700,000 in March 2003 from existing investors. Altogether, Ampal invested $2.8 million in 2002 in high-tech companies, and pledged a $450,000 investment in Expand Networks.
Other financial reports published last reveal:
Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT) spin-off PerSay, which develops voice verification technology, received a $3.9 million bridging loan from Shrem-Fudim-Kelner Technologies in 2002. PerSay also hopes to complete a financing round in the coming months.
CDI (Computer Disk International) (TASE:CDIL), a CD maker, invested in Scitex (Nasdaq: SCIX; TASE:SCIX) spin-off Aprion Digital, which merged with Scitex Vision in early 2003. CDI claims in its 2002 financial report that the merger diluted its holding in the company from 4% to 2%. The merger agreement states that it will receive its original investment back in full, plus interest and linkage, even though Aprion’s value for the merger was less than its valuation for CDI’s investment in the company. According to CDI, Aprion rejects that interpretation, and legal action is likely soon.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on March 31, 2003