Network application solutions company Radware (Nasdaq: RDWR; TASE: RDWR) has disclosed a new party at interest, despite the dramatic plunge in its share price in recent months. The company notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last night that Soros Fund Management, owned by US financier George Soros, had become a party at interest in the company with a 5.6% holding.
Soros is investing in Radware after its share fell 45.4% since the beginning of the year, with the company posting steeper than expected losses and revenue way below the analysts' estimates in both the first and second quarters. The company currently has $148.6 million in cash, or $7.50 per share, compared with yesterday's closing price on Nasdaq of $8.40. Radware does not expect to return to operating profitability until the fourth quarter of the year, but with a share price that is almost the same as its cash per share rate, there are those who consider it a buying opportunity, or at least a defensive stock with little chance of falling further.
Soros also has a stake in another Israeli company - VoIP equipment marker AudioCodes (Nasdaq: AUDC; TASE: AUDC). The Soros fund currently holds most of the convertible notes that AudioCodes issued in 2004. The notes bear 2% interest and mature in 2024, and have a conversion price of $18.70 per share. At its current price of just $4.30, AudioCodes has a long way to go before it reaches the conversion price.
AudioCodes' bond holders will have the first opportunity to convert their notes to shares in just over a year's time, in November 2009. The company had $147.3 million in cash at the end of the second quarter.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 12, 2008
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