Tene sells Caesarstone stake for $170m

Tene Investment made a near four-fold return on its investment in the Kibbutz Sdot Yam owned quartz surfaces maker.

Tene Investment Funds Ltd., which specializes in kibbutz industries, marked up another big exit on Thursday in engineered quartz surfaces maker Caesarstone Sdot Yam Ltd. (Nasdaq: CSTE). Tene and Kibbutz Sdot Yam, sold 7,775,000 shares at $23.25 per share for $181 million. Tene Investment sold 21.3% out of its 23% stake for $170 million, and will probably sell the remaining shares to the underwriters. Caesarstone received no proceeds from the offering.

If the underwriters -, JP Morgan Securities LLC, Barclays Capital Inc., and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC - exercise their over-allotment option, Tene's gross proceeds could increase by $35 million for 1.7% of the company. Kibbutz Sdot Yam sold 1.3% of Caesarstone for $11 million, reducing its stake to 51%.

Caesarstone was floated a year ago at $11 per share, for a company value of $380 million. Its market cap on Friday, after a 4.3% drop in the share price to $22.75, was $781 million - more than double its market cap at the IPO.

Tene Investment made a near four-fold return on its investment in Caesarstone, half which was made directly, and half through a special purpose company jointly established with Leumi Partner Ltd., Emilia Development (OFG) Ltd. (TASE:EMDV), Menorah Mivtachim Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MORA), and The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5). Leumi Partners, which owns 4% of Caesarstone directly, and 1% through the special purpose company, made a cumulate profit of over NIS 100 million on a NIS 35 million investment.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 14, 2013

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013

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