Retalix targeted for acquisition

The asking price is at a significant premium to the current market low.

Retalix Ltd. (Nasdaq: RTLX; TASE: RTLX) could be an acquisition target again. Sources inform ''Globes'' that company chairman and CEO Barry Shaked recently met with representatives of UK retail operator Torex, whose principal shareholder is private equity group Cerberus, which manages $25 billion in assets, and with General Atlantic, which was previously a shareholder in PowerDsine until its acquisition by Microsemi Corp. (Nasdaq: MSCC).

Cerberus is one half of consortium that made a failed bid for the controlling share in Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI).

Retalix has repeatedly been the subject of rumors regarding a possible sale, although nothing has happened to date. Last year, the company mulled several options for a sale or merger with either VeriFone Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: PAY; TASE: PAY), US retail software solutions company Retek, now part of Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL), and German company Wincor Nixdorf International (XETRA: WIN.DE) , as well as a buyout by private equity group Apax Partners. The sale terms were not the same for all the potential partners Retalix negotiated with although all the deals gave the company a price tag ranging from $400 - 500 million.

Torex is a privately-held provider of point-of-sale solutions to the retail sector, so it operates in the same line of business as Retalix, which has reached interesting juncture in terms of its business, after having invested substantial resources in R&D with a view to continuing to develop on its own. The company decided several years ago to develop a specialized suite of solutions for the retail sector, rather than providing localized solutions for a wide range of applications, as its competitors have done.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on December 24, 2007

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007

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