Pell and Ben-Haim's Medinvest raises $129m

Shlomo Ben-Haim invested $40 million of his own money in the holding company.

Sources inform ''Globes'' that Dr. Shlomo Ben-Haim and Lewis Pell's holding company, Medinvest has raised $129 million in a bond issue, of which $89 million were bought by Israeli institutional and other investors. Migdal Capital Markets Ltd. handled the offering.

Ben-Haim and Pell have demonstrated an ability to make exits at a pace rarely seen in Israel, and underscored their ability with a bond issue at a time of crisis in the financial markets. They faced one disappointment: a foreign investor that was supposed to make a large investment in Medinvest ultimately withdrew, and Ben-Haim had to invest $40 million of his own money, albeit at better terms than the other bondholders.

Medinvest originally planned to raise $150 million, half from Israeli institutional investors and half from foreign investors. The Israeli investors were the first to commit, and Medinvest secured their money before the financial crisis became so severe in the past couple of months. Foreign investors who were approached as the crisis worsened, withdrew.

Former Teva CFO Dan Suesskind, who managed Medinvest during the offering, has been appointed to the company's advisory council, although he will not take a management role.

MedInvest will operate as a holding company with stakes in nine companies in which Ben-Hain is currently involved in. It has no plans to set up new companies. Medinvest's original business plan, which was based on $150 million under management, proposed investing 40% of the capital in Impulse Dynamics NV, which is developing electrical cardiology stimulators; 12% in MetaCure Ltd., which is developing electrical stimulators for the prevention of obesity and diabetes; 22% in Spectrum Dynamics Ltd., which is developing improved nuclear imaging solutions; 6.3% in Motorika Medical Ltd., which is developing Reotherapy, robotic assisted therapy for stroke rehabilitation; and 10% in Core Dynamics Ltd., which is developing freezing, thawing and freeze drying technologies for cell, tissue, and organ preservation.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 24, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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