It has seemed that Ness Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: NSTC; TASE: NSTC) has been nearing the moment of truth for a long time. The ambition of the company's founders in the late 1990s - Raviv Zoller, the Wolfson family, and Warburg Pincus LLC - was to create a large international IT services company that would leverage the Jewish genome in the services industry. Things went well at first, the company had an unexpectedly good Nasdaq offering in 2004, and its market cap rose to $650 million, exactly four years ago. However, the past two years, since the outbreak of the financial crisis, have been a different story altogether.
Ness is now trying to again become a private company. It has officially been on the shelf since summer, when it hired New York-based Jefferies Broadview to find possible buyers. At least one private equity fund - that of Citigroup Inc., which owns 9.6% of Ness - has shown interest, reportedly for a company value of $250-300 million, compared with its current market cap of $175 million.
Ness said that it does not comment on rumors.
Ness' share price jumped 17.8% on the TASE today to NIS 19.95, and rose 19.4% in premarket trading on Nasdaq to $5.49.
Ness has been run by president and CEO Sachi Gerlitz since early 2007. It has three core business areas: Israel - 35% of sales; the US - 32% of sales; and Europe - 26%. The company has about 8,000 employees, 2,600 of whom are in Israel.
This is not the first time that Ness has been mooted as a takeover candidate. In late 2006, it was in intensive talks with at least two international companies, and again in early 2009. In both cases, the share price soared while the talks were on. This has not happened as much yet, despite today's jump, which may indicate that any deal is still far off, or that it is well concealed overseas.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 13, 2010
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