10 years after investing in Allot Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq:ALLT; TASE: ALLT), high-tech entrepreneur Zohar Zisapel has sold all of his shares in the company. A report to the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that Zisapel had no stake in the company at the end of January, compared with an 8.5% holding in early March 2018. Assuming that he sold his shares in recent weeks, the sale would have been at an average price of $6.60 per share, making Zisapel's proceeds $18-19 million. The Hod Hasharon-based company's current share price is $7, reflecting a $236 million market cap.
Allot, managed by CEO Erez Antebi, changed its business focus in recent years. It currently provides solutions for communications activity, including security. In previous years, its main activity was streamlining use of core network communications equipment, a sector that has declined substantially.
Allot held its first offering on Wall Street in 2006 at $12 per share, but its share price plunged in the financial crisis a decade ago. Zisapel took advantage of the situation to invest a few million dollars in Allot in 2009 when its share price was only $1.50-1.70.
Another prominent sell-off of shares in Allot was in November by a fund controlled by billionaire George Soros, which sold part of its holdings. Allot will publish its 2018 financial statements on Tuesday.
Zisapel last year reduced his holdings in Silicom (Nasdaq: SILC), another Israel technology company. He sold shares in Silicom in January-November 2018 for over $30 million, cutting his holding in the company from 20% to 10.6%. Silicom is one of the Rad group companies founded by Zisapel with his brother, Yehuda Zisapel.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 3, 2019
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