Industrial company Omen is still promoting an equity offering on the TASE through an offer for sale, and earlier this week published another draft prospectus for an IPO, slated for next month.
At this point, however, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) equity offerings market is far from a recovery. Sources inform "Globes" that in its roadshow before institutional entities, Omen has had to shave tens of millions of shekels off the NIS 200 million company value it was seeking for its offering. A market source said potential investors were demanding the value be set at around NIS 120 million.
The offer for sale is not expected to enlarge Omen's stock of cash. The main beneficiary of the measure will be the Tene fund, which currently owns 28% of Omen's shares, and will sell most (20-25%) of them to the public through the offer for sale. The fund, led by Ariel Halperin, invested in Omen in 2006. Due to the time that has since passed, Tene is seeking to sell its holdings, as it tried to do until recently with its holdings in Kibbutz Sha'ar Haamakim-based solar boiler manufacturer Chromagen.
In the case of Chromagen, the IPO was shelved, after the investment institutions demanded a sharp cut in the company value, which the shareholders (Tene and the kibbutz) refused to accept. It is believed that Tene will be willing to reduce its asking price for the offer for sale in Omen, but despite its wish to sell its holding, it will not sell at any price.
Omen, which engages in high-compression manufacturing of aluminum and brass casting, has expanded and consolidated its business in Europe (Portugal and Russia) over the past year, with the aim of doubling it within a short time. The company exports most of its products, mainly to Europe (80%), and is affected by the state of the global auto industry for which most of its products are intended. It also makes components for the fire-fighting accessories industry.
Omen's 2013 revenue totaled NIS 155 million, a 2.5% increase over 2012.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 21, 2014
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