Communal workspace company WeWork executives recently finished a round of meetings in the Israeli capital market with Discount Capital Markets. The meetings were designed to present the company to Israeli investors and create a connection between it and the local capital market.
The meetings were followed by rumors that the company was planning an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), but senior capital market sources said that the TASE was incapable of accommodating a $20 billion equity offering.
At the same time, given that WeWork has an affinity to Israel and a great desire to expand its business here, it is considering a bond issue on the TASE amounting to several hundred million shekels, mainly in order to generate initial connections and relations with the local capital market.
WeWork raised $4 billion from SoftBank not long ago at a company value of $20 billion, and this price tag is too big for the Israeli capital market. Sources involved in WeWork's meetings in Israel told "Globes" that it was far more likely that the company would initially issue bonds on the TASE and hold a large equity offering on Nasdaq, followed by dual listing on the TASE. Since this process is complicated and lengthy, however, it will take time to carry it out.
"WeWork executives arrived in Israel for a two-day tour and a meeting with investment institutions. They are considering many things that the local capital market will be part of, but there is nothing concrete at the moment. They have Israeli shareholders and an Israeli executive, and the company is definitely heading for Israel, but its value is too big for the local market. The plan to hold a bond issue in Tel Aviv, an IPO on Nasdaq, and dual listing in Tel Aviv is a more likely possibility for the company, and its executives are considering it. I assume that they will make decisions in the near future, and begin working on the plan," an important capital market source well informed of the particulars of the visit told "Globes."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on November 26, 2017
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