BATM Advanced Communications Ld Update on Sale of NGSoft (6021Q)
March 01 2021 - 1:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMBVC
RNS Number : 6021Q
BATM Advanced Communications Ld
01 March 2021
LEI: 213800FLQUB9J289RU66
1 March 2021
BATM Advanced Communications Limited
("BATM" or "the Group")
Update on Sale of NGSoft
Further to the Group's announcement of 12 January 2021, BATM
(LSE: BVC; TASE: BVC), a leading provider of real-time technologies
for networking solutions and medical laboratory systems, announces
that it has exercised its option to sell NG Soft Ltd. ("NGSoft"), a
subsidiary of the Group, for NIS 105.1m (approximately $33m) to
Aztek Technologies (1984) Ltd., a provider of ICT cloud services in
Israel and a portfolio company of SKY Fund (the "Buyer").
The Group and the Buyer have entered into a share purchase
agreement pursuant to which the Buyer will purchase the entire
issued share capital of NGSoft for a total consideration of NIS
105.1m (c. $33m), of which the Group will receive a total of NIS
93.7m (c. $29m) in cash. The Group's consideration includes a NIS
15.5m loan repayment from NGSoft and a NIS 2.1m dividend payment,
which will be received prior to completion, and the remaining NIS
76.1m will be received on completion. Certain employees of NGSoft
will receive the balance of NIS 11.4m through cash out of their
employee options and rights on completion. Completion, which is
subject to the receipt of approval from the Israel Competition
Authority, is expected to occur by the end of March 2021.
The Group intends to invest the proceeds of the sale to
strengthen its innovation and commercialisation engine organically
and through acquisition to enable the Group to accelerate its core
activities - in particular, in network function virtualisation
("NFV") and molecular diagnostics. The Board of BATM believes these
areas offer transformational growth opportunities in the short- to
medium-term. In addition, the disposal of NGSoft, combined with the
increased contribution to Group revenue from molecular diagnostics
and NFV, will support the anticipated improvement in gross margin
for 2021.
NGSoft is a software and digital services company that provides
creative digital and technology solutions. Its development
activities do not include any of the Group's NFV or cyber
solutions. In 2020, NGSoft generated a profit before tax of $2.4m
and as at 31 December 2020 it had gross assets of $22.5m.
Dr Zvi Marom, Chief Executive Officer of BATM, said: "We are
pleased to be, once again, generating value from the sale of a part
of our portfolio that is non-core to our future. We will be able to
use the proceeds from this transaction to accelerate the areas of
our business that we believe will provide transformational growth
opportunities. This follows an extremely successful 2020, with
significant strategic progress in both the Bio-Medical and
Networking & Cyber division, and further strengthens our
foundations. As a result, we remain very excited about our future
and look forward to continuing to deliver shareholder value."
Enquiries:
BATM Advanced Communications
Dr Zvi Marom, Chief Executive Officer +972 9866 2525
Moti Nagar, Chief Financial Officer
Shore Capital
Mark Percy, Anita Ghanekar, James Thomas (Corporate Advisory)
Henry Willcocks (Corporate Broking) +44 20 7408 4050
Luther Pendragon
Harry Chathli, Claire Norbury +44 20 7618 9100
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