Pontifax Fund has sold its 18% stake in Biomedix Incubator Ltd. (TASE:BMDX) in a share-swap deal in which Pontifax will receives shares in Biomedix portfolio companies.
The two companies said that they will continue to collaborate in the portfolio companies, and that they would review future joint investment opportunities.
However, a source at Biomedix told "Globes" that disputes between Pontifax's managers Ran Nussbaum and Tomer Kariv and Biomedix CEO Elad Naggar and chairman Mani Mor, were behind the split. Former Biomedix chairman Zeev Bronfeld, who owns 8.2% of the company, is on good terms with both sides.
When the deal is closed, Pontifax will own stakes in CollPlant Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLPT), NasVax Ltd. (TASE: NSVX), Gefen Biomed Investements Ltd. (TASE: GEFEN) (which owns Ashkelon Technological Industries (ATI) and Meytav Technological Enterprises Innovation Center Ltd.), and Spearhead Investments Ltd., which has stakes in Biomedix's portfolio companies.
Pontifax is continuing its operations. In the past few years, despite the crisis in venture capital the Pontifax II Fund has invested $18 million in Arno Therapeutics Inc., Check-Cap Ltd., Kite Pharma Inc., Macrocure Ltd., and Stimatix GI Medical Solutions Ltd.
Biomedix restructured last year and reduced the number of its portfolio companies to focus on a few fields. It is apparently trying to include a few new companies in each field together with companies that already generate cash flows. The company's share price fell 30% as management kept mum about the restructuring and reduced the number of announcements.
Biomedix's share price fell 2.2% today to NIS 0.50, giving a market cap of NIS 74 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 24, 2011
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