DiA Cardio is in talks to merge with stock market shell Di-Rom Investment & Holdings, sources inform “Globes.” Di-Rom has announced that it is considering merging with a medical device company, but did not specify which company. Sources inform “Globes” that DiA Cardio was valued at $9 million for the merger.
DiA Cardio has developed a product to improve the performance of echocardiographic equipment, used to diagnose heart disease. The product, Lvivo, can detect the walls of the left chamber, and contribute to the ability to assess the heart’s functioning. The company received US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) marketing approval two months ago, and, a few months earlier, it has received the EU CE marketing approval. The company also has a marketing agreement with Ultralinq, which specializes in cloud-based systems for hospitals, and will incorporate DiA Cardio’s product into its medical image storage and analysis service.
If the talks succeed, DiA Cardio will enter the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) as a company that has passed the R&D and approval phases, and has already begun sales. This is the stage at which most of the medical equipment companies that are currently traded entered the TASE.
Publicly traded Capital Point Ltd. (TASE:CPTP) owns 36% of DiA Cardio, via the Afikim Foundation incubator. In January of 2013, DiA Cardio successfully completed a clinical trial analyzing 100 echocardiographic images, and found that the system analyzed the images as well as a physician and technician, but more quickly and efficiently.
A case against Gilon
Di-Rom, which formerly operated in real estate, became a stock market shell in 2007, and made a creditor’s arrangement through Yaron Yenni and Moti Menashe’s Upswing Capital company. Upswing recently sold its stake in the company. Yenni still owns 13% of D-Rom, and he is the only remaining stakeholder in the company.
Today, D-Rom trades at the low value of NIS 2.3 million, and it is the largest stakeholder in Gilon Investments (1979) Ltd. (TASE:GILN) (45.1%). This stake was purchased in 2008 for NIS 7 million, using company funds. Gilon is currently in financial trouble, and is in talks with its bondholders, who filed a lawsuit against the company yesterday. Gilon, which is currently trading at zero value, has three areas of operation: real estate operations, which suffered a tremendous blow due to the financial crisis and is on the back burner; securities trading operations; and special operations to trade stock market shell securities.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 12, 2013
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