01 March 2024
ETHERNITY NETWORKS
LIMITED
("Ethernity" or the
"Company")
Proposed appointment of
external directors, proposed option grants and notice of
EGM
Ethernity Networks Limited (AIM:
ENET.L) (OTCMKTS: ENETF), a leading supplier of data processing
semiconductor technology for networking appliances, announces the
proposed appointment of Aviva Banczewski and Julie Kunstler as
external directors and independent non-executive directors of the
Company (the "Board
Appointments"), the proposed grant of options to certain
directors of the Company (the "Option Grants") and provides notice of
an extraordinary general meeting of the Company (the "EGM"), which is being convened,
inter alia, for the
purpose of seeking shareholder approval for the Board Appointments
and the Option Grants.
Proposed Board Appointments
Under Israeli Companies Law,
5759-1999, and the rules and regulations thereunder (the
''Companies Law''), the
Company is required to have at least two external directors (as
defined in the Companies Law) appointed to its Board of Directors.
On 14 November 2023, the Company announced that Chen
Saft-Feiglin and Zohar Yinon had stepped down as the Company's
external directors following the conclusion of their terms in
office and that the Company would seek to finalise the appointment
of new external directors within three months of conclusion of the
temporary suspension of proceedings ("TSP") process.
The Company is pleased to announce
that, following the conclusion of an appropriate selection process,
the Nomination Committee has identified Aviva Banczewski and Julie
Kunstler as suitable external directors and has recommended their
appointment to the Board of Directors of the Company. The Board
Appointments are subject to the completion of customary due
diligence as required under the AIM Rules for Companies as well as
the passing of the resolutions seeking approval of the Board
Appointments at the EGM.
Biographies of the proposed external
directors
Julie Kunstler has over 30 years'
experience in the communications components, equipment, and
software industry, having served as an executive, venture-fund
investor, analyst, and board member. Most recently, Julie held the
position of Chief Analyst - Broadband Access Intelligence Service
for Omdia (a division of Informa Tech), covering the fixed
broadband access industry ecosystem. Prior to joining Omdia, Julie
served as VP Business Development for Teknovus, a venture-backed
broadband access PON (Passive Optical Network) chip start-up, where
she assisted with fundraising, corporate strategy, OEM agreements,
and its acquisition by Broadcom.
Aviva Banczewski has over 30 years
of varied finance experience including audit, consulting,
regulatory and compliance, business and strategic planning and
acquisition due diligence assignments. She started her career
working for Andersen in both Australia and then Israel for a total
of 15 years. Since then, she has held both finance and investor
relations roles in publicly traded companies, including ICL Group
Ltd and Evogene Ltd, which are both listed on Nasdaq and the Tel
Aviv Stock Exchange ("TASE"). She currently acts as Director
of Investor Relations for Pluri, Inc, a Nasdaq and TASE listed
company. Aviva has also been a board member of the Israel Australia
Chamber of Commerce since November 2022.
Proposed Option Grants
Following the exit of the TSP
process, the Company has resolved to grant options to certain
employees, subcontractors and Directors of the Company pursuant to
the Company Option Plan (ISOP) and in compliance with the Company's
compensation policy, in order to further incentivise the team
whilst conserving cash. In total, 33,200,000 options (the "Options") over
new ordinary shares of NIS 0.001 each ("Ordinary Shares") are to be granted. 15,822,775 Options were granted to certain
employees and subcontractors of the Company. A further 17,377,225
are proposed to be granted to certain directors of the Company as
follows:
Director
|
No. of Options proposed to
be granted
|
Total options over Ordinary
Shares held post grant
|
Percent of issued share
capital
|
David Levi (CEO)
|
11,447,309
|
11,708,019
|
3.11%
|
Shavit Baruch (VP
R&D)
|
4,235,247
|
4,495,957
|
1.19%
|
Ayala Deutsch (CFO
|
1,200,000
|
1,270,000
|
0.34%
|
Yosi Albagli (Chairman)
|
494,669
|
494,669
|
0.13%
|
TOTAL
|
17,377,225
|
17,968,645
|
4.77%
|
The grant of the Options to the
executive directors is conditional on the passing of certain
resolutions at the EGM to seek shareholder's approval for the
Option Grants. Once granted, the Options will have an exercise
price of 1.5p. The Options will vest over three years in 12 equal
portions, with 1/12 of the Options vesting at the end of each
quarter following the date of grant.
Notice of EGM
The Company will shortly post to
shareholders a notice of EGM, to be held at 3rd Floor Beit Golan, 1
Golan St. Corner HaNegev, Airport City 7019900, Israel at 11.00
a.m. Israel time (9.00 a.m. UK time) on 9 April 2024. The purpose
of the EGM is to seek seeking shareholder approval for the Board
Appointments and Option Grants. The EGM also contains a resolution
to seek shareholder approval for an increase in the Company's
authority to issue new Ordinary Shares on a non-pre-emptive basis.
A copy of the EGM notice will be made available on the Company's
website, www.ethernitynet.com.
For
further information, please contact:
Ethernity Networks Ltd
|
Tel: +972 3 748 9846
|
David Levi, Chief Executive
Officer
Ayala Deutsch, Chief Financial
Officer
|
|
|
|
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)
|
Tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656
|
James Reeve / Piers Shimwell
(Corporate Finance)
Amrit Nahal / Stefano Aquilino
(Sales and Corporate Broking)
|
|
|
|
CMC
Markets UK plc (Joint
Broker)
|
Tel: +44 (0)20 3003 8632
|
Douglas Crippen
|
|
|
|
Peterhouse Capital Limited (Joint Broker)
|
Tel: +44 (0)20 7562 0930
|
Lucy Williams / Duncan Vasey / Eran
Zucker
|
|
About Ethernity Networks
Ethernity Networks (AIM: ENET.L;
OTCMKTS: ENETF) provides innovative, comprehensive networking and
security solutions on programmable hardware, enhancing telco/cloud
network infrastructure capacity. Ethernity's semiconductor logic
offers data processing functionality for various networking
applications, alongside patented wireless access technology and
fiber access media controllers, all equipped with control software
boasting a rich set of networking features. Ethernity's solutions
swiftly adapt to customers' evolving needs, accelerating
time-to-market and facilitating the deployment of 5G over wireless
and fiber infrastructure.