To: yosi s who wrote (141 ) 11/9/1998 10:15:00 AM From: Omer Shvili Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1386
Yosi, Your speculation on Agis' future moves with regards to PARS are way off in my mind. You must understand what kind of a company Agis is before speculating what they'll do. You wrote : "Agis may buy out Pharmos. To get into US market. They get quick listing" Yosi, Agis is mainly a generic drug manufacturer. In order to penetrate the US market, they bought Clay Parks, a US generic drug manufacturer. Agis has a great relationship with Merryl Lynch, so once the market recovers and if they want to be listed in the US as well (they currently trade on TASE), it won't be a problem (the Formula group made the same move this year). You wrote "Use their contacts with Pharmaceutical company that they know to get HU 211 deal fast". Again, Yosi, Agis is a generic drug manufacturer and their contacts are mainly in that sector, not with the novel drug developers. They will be able to help with some contacts, but that's the major asset they bring to the table as shareholders. Agis is a well respected (especially in Israel, but not only as Merryl is a big shareholder), and are the #2 pharmaceutical player in Israel after Teva. Arkin is known for being a smart and conservative businessman, that doesn't throw his money on speculative ventures. This means he did major DD work here, and found something very interesting that made him buy a big stake (which will probably increase in the future). Arkin and Agis want to invest in promising young biotechs in Israel, and already made an investment in Peptor (a privately held biotech, our Haim Aviv is also involved) and now added PARS to the list. They will probably not go and take over the entire company, they just want to have stakes in promising companies. Arkin isn't a man that will enter a wild venture, like taking over PARS which would take a lot of money and change Agis completely. If someone were to take over PARS, you can be sure it won't get done at $2, but at least $3 - $4 per share. That means a market cap of over $100 million. Agis could pull this off, but it would change the company completely, and I don't think that's what Arkin wants. Agis, in its current format (generic player, also involved in active ingredient manufacturing and in cosmetics, with some investments in promising biotechs), attracts many institutions who see the company as a safe play with nice growth potential. These same guys won't go after a biotech with a high risk high reward situation. You wrote "their Israeli same culture as Pharmos will not alienate its research team. Probably bring it aboard." Yosi, the culture differences here aren't Israeli Vs. US/European. However, there is a huge difference between a diversified generic drug company and a promising young biotech. Major differences. Yosi, with regards to cash flow. We talk about it quite a lot, because that's the first thing an investor looks at when checking out a biotech with no earnings, and because that could be a reason for the low stock price. However, from speaking to PARS, I get the feeling that they aren't that worried about the situation, and that they think there will not be aby trouble. I guess the company has several alternatives for raising more cash, ranging from up-front cash from a partner, through some sort of non-dillutive financing deal, or a private offering to someone like Agis (maybe they'll buy another 5% stake this way and solve our problems, no prefferd deal which we all fear) and other alternatives. I get the feeling that we're much more worried than PARS, and that they're sure they'll be able to secure some sort of financing deal which won't be anything like the Castle Creek deal. Take care, Omer