Private equity fund XIO is set to sell Israeli aesthetics medical device and equipment company Lumenis to the UK's CVC Fund for close to $1 billion. XIO Group acquired Yokneam-based Lumenis in 2015 for $520 million.
Lumenis is a veteran Israeli medical device company, which develops, manufactures and markets equipment based on light energy, including lasers, for surgical, ophthalmology and aesthetic applications. The company has annual revenue of about $400 million.
Lumenis has undergone many changes in ownership since it was founded in the early 90s and subsequently became one of Israel's first tech companies to hold an IPO on Nasdaq. The company was delisted after a hostile takeover and the ousting of its founder Shimon Eckhouse who went on to found Syneron Medical Ltd. (Nasdaq: ELOS).
Lumenis found itself in financial difficulties after 2000, and the company was acquired in 2006 by the Ofer Brothers and the Viola Fund for just $120 million. Its fortunes were revived and in its shares were relisted on Nasdaq in 2014 at a company value of $470 million before it was acquired just a year later by XIO.
CVC is a private equity fund, which recently acquired the women's health activities of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA). CVC has also been in talks to buy parts of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS) and Superpharm but neither deal has come to fruition.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 21, 2018
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