Billionaire Martin Schlaff invests in CollPlant

Martin Schlaff  photo: Reuters
Martin Schlaff photo: Reuters

It was announced last month that Schlaff's company would invest $5 million in CollPlant, propelling the company's market cap up to NIS 85 million.

Biotechnology company CollPlant Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLPT) today announced progress in a deal to raise $5 million (of which an initial $2 million has already been transferred to the company) from foreign investment company Alpha Capital. CollPlant said it was unaware of the identity of Alpha Capital's controlling shareholder, but sources inform "Globes" that he is mysterious Austrian billionaire Martin Schlaff, an associate of Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman.

CollPlant, a company with negligible revenue and a going concern warning, develops and manufactures medical products based on human protein produced from the tobacco plant. The company last month announced its intention of having its shares listed on Nasdaq. The decision was made in the wake of the $5 million investment deal with Alpha Capital, some of which was contingent on CollPlant's share being listed on that stock exchange. The company report said that the foreign investor would also help the company in this process.

CollPlant's share price has doubled since the report, reflecting a current market cap of NIS 85 million. Parties at interest in CollPlant, which has accumulated NIS 168 million in losses to date, include Meitav Dash Investments Ltd. (TASE:MTDS), the Docor fund, and Ami Sagi, father of Internet and real estate billionaire Teddy Sagi.

Alpha Capital is a fund that invests in several listed companies, mainly in biotechnology and cleantech. According to the Fintel website, Alpha Capital has become a party at interest in 24 public companies in the US, including StemCell, into which the activity of another Israeli company, Microbot, founded by Harel Gadot, was recently merged.

This is the company that reported its investment through a form indicating its intention of becoming an active investor in the company. Alpha Capital, which operates from Lichtenstein, does not report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, even though it is active in business in the US. This appears to indicate that the fund amounts to less than $100 million.

Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on October 9, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Martin Schlaff  photo: Reuters
Martin Schlaff photo: Reuters
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