Shareholders in Sodastream International Ltd. (Nasdaq: SODA) have decided on a second round of profit taking in the company and say goodbye to one of most successful investments in an Israeli company of the past decade, after selling $248.4 million in the company's offer to sell, and as the share price continued to climb.
Monitoring by "Globes" of Sodastream's parties at interest found that two - Keswick Properties Ltd. and Kendray Properties Ltd. - liquidated their holdings within the past two weeks at an average price of $69.65 per share for a total of $71.9 million. The sale price was three times Sodastream's IPO price last winter.
Sodastream's share price rose 3.6% on Friday to $73.35, giving a market cap of $1.46 billion, 237% above its IPO price.
Keswick Properties and Kendray Properties joined forces with Israeli private equity fund Fortissimo Capital to acquire control of Sodastream just over four years ago at an investment of €10 million ($14 million). Little is known about who is behind the two companies. Kendray Properties is registered in the tax haven of Gibraltar, and the name is derived from a village in Yorkshire.
Kendray Properties sold 4.1% of Sodastream for $57.5 million, to complete an exit of $103.2 million on an investment of just a few million.
Keswick Properties is also registered in Gibraltar. It sold its remaining 1% of Sodastream for $14.4 million, to complete an exit of $25.8 million.
Altogether, parties at interest in Sodastream have sold $320.3 million worth of shares in the company, including in the offer to sell that accompanies the IPO. This amounts to half of sales by parties at interest in Israeli companies listed on Wall Street so far this year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 1, 2011
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