US investor buys 10% of Silicom
Robert Mark Sussman says he does not want to take over the company and has made no demands on it.
Shiri Habib 26 Sep 06 15:44
The managers of Kfar Saba-based Silicom Ltd. (Nasdaq:SILC; TASE:SILC) are undoubtedly asking if a takeover attempt of the company is in the offing, after discovering that a US investor bought 10% of it in recent months.
Robert Mark Sussman began buying Silicom shares early this year, and has reached a 10% holding. Only the company’s co-founders Yehuda and Zohar Zisapel own larger stakes: Yehuda owns 15.6%, and Zohar 12.9%.
Silicom, a subsidiary of the RAD Group, develops, produces and markets network connectivity solutions, and has a market cap of $33 million. The company’s share has fallen 27% since January, after achieving a yield of 200% in 2005. The company became profitable last year, after four years of losses, a fact that probably contributed to Sussman’s decision to buy shares.
Documents Sussman filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) state that he is acting on his own, and is not part of any group. He signed a standard declaration in the first document, stating that the purchases of shares were not part of an attempt to influence control of the company. He reportedly has no plans to take over Silicom or makes changes in its management.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Sussman has not asked to be appointed to Silicom’s board or to appoint a representative on his behalf. He is apparently a financial investor who manages his own and other people’s money, and views Silicom as an investment opportunity. In some of the documents he filed with the SEC he states his home address as New York; in other he gives Arizona.
Silicom posted a net profit of $867,000 on $6.9 million revenue in the first half of 2006. The company announced the launch of a new line of information security products last week, and for the first time said that its customers included information security giant Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on September 26, 2006
