Replies to post #197308 on Biotech Values

[MinnieM]

Interesting post...




In Reply to 'DewDiligence'
(MNKD/NAVB/BTX)—Tel Aviv stock exchange moves to limit exploitative listings by foreign companies:

http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-tase-seeks-to-plug-dual-lisitng-loophole-1001080719

Yesterday, at the height of the embarrassing farce that played out over the past few days over the offering by US biomed company MannKind, the captains of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange finally came to their senses. They realized, very late in the game, that someone was exploiting their good intentions in opening up the TASE to foreign stocks for his own benefit, and not necessarily for the benefit of local investors.

… In a statement released yesterday…the TASE…announced its intention of bringing a proposal before the board of directors…to amend the guidelines for accession to and removal from the market indices. Under the proposal…the stock of a company incorporated overseas will be added to the indices only if the company in question demonstrates an affinity with Israel.

…the decision by TASE management came only after the tempest raised in the past three weeks by the listing on the TASE of US biotechnology companies Navidea, BioTime and, chiefly, MannKind, and their accession on that account to the Tel Aviv 100 and Tel Aviv 75 indices.

The storm peaked yesterday, when, a day before the date when the exchange traded funds were obliged to buy MannKind shares in advance of its accession to the indices on Sunday, the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) notified the ETFs that the shares they were about to buy from the company itself would be blocked from being sold in Israel, since the procedure would amount to a private placement.

In a desperation measure, MNKD itself sold shares to TASE-index ETFs at a substantial discount to the market price.

[DewDiligence]

BTX sells 7.45M* shares @$2.70—a 10% discount to yesterday’s close:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/biotime-inc-announces-pricing-public-140200335.html

*Assuming exercise of underwriter’s option.