Despite the boom in the primary market on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), more and more Israeli companies are discovering the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and seeking to be listed on it. Sources inform "Globes" that Shekel Scales, which develops and produces advanced weighing systems for a variety of uses and applications and barcode scanners, is planning an offering on ASX to raise NIS 30 million at a company value of NIS 150 million.
At this stage, no prospectus for the planned IPO has been published yet. The shareholders in Shekel Scales are Accel Partners (47%), Ramat Hasharon-based Concepta (32%), and Kibbutz Beit Keshet (21%).
Shekel Scales, founded at Kibbutz Beit Keshet in the Lower Galilee in 1977, was registered as an agricultural cooperative until 2008, when it was incorporated as a company.
The company's customers come from industry, the retail sector, agriculture, and health. The company also has OEM agreements with major companies. Among other things, it supplies components for GE Medical's systems. Its customers also include IBM and Fujitsu. Shekel Scales also offers repair and calibration services to its customers.
Successful exist for TechnoPlus
Shekel Scales is a private company, and there is consequently no public information about its financial results. At the same time, the company previously had a short public stock exchange episode. In early 2011, TechnoPlus Ventures Ltd. (TASE:TNPV) acquired 37.5% of Shekel Scales for NIS 4.2 million, reflecting an NIS 11 million company value, plus an additional performance-contingent amount. A year later, TechnoPlus had a successful exit, selling its holdings to the Accel Partners investment fund for NIS 9.5 million, reflecting a company value of NIS 25 million. The company had 135 employees at the time.
If its IPO goes through, Shekel Scales will become another on a growing list of Israeli companies, primarily in technology and medicine, listed on the ASX. These include Elsight Ltd. (ASX: ELS), water technology company Fluence Corp. (ASX: FLC) (formerly Emefcy), and Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies Ltd. (ASX:ROO), which held its ASX IPO several weeks ago.
In the past, Israeli companies obtained listing on the ASX mostly through mergers with Australian Securities Exchange shells. Today, however, this method is less common. Most of the companies that joined ASX over the past year did so through an initial offering of shares.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on January 29, 2018
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