It was all blue and white at the listing of Ethernity Networks Limited, an Israeli company in London.
The Israeli flag alongside the flag of the United Kingdom colourfully graced the upper landing of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), attracting for this special listing, the presence of the Israeli ambassador to the Court of St. James, Mark Regev.
However, the listing occurred smoothly because of another Mark – a former South African, Johannesburg Chartered Accountant Mark Reichenberg who immigrated to Israel with his family in 2009.
True Colours. CFO of Ethernity Networks Ltd (and CEO London AIM Advisory Services) Mark Reichenberg, standing centre with Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev at the high-profile listing of the company at the London Stock Exchange in June. Also seen here are Justine Zwerling, London Stock Exchange Representative in Israel, David Levi CEO Ethernity Networks Ltd, Shavit Baruch VP R&D Ethernity Networks Ltd; and Marcus Studdard – Head of AIM.
“City” Boy
It’s been quite a ride for Mark.
Following a stint as the CFO of an industrial manufacturing company for a few years, Mark joined a top Israeli jewelry group as their VP for Business Development. It was while working there that Mark came to understand why the listing of so many Israeli companies on the LSE had failed “and sadly created an extremely negative sentiment toward Israeli companies in the London market.” He went out on his own in 2016 establishing London AIM Advisory Services, zoning in on the niche market of listing Israeli Companies on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
Following months of research and analysis, Mark established a framework for evaluating and dealing with Israeli companies well before introducing them to the “The City” (the London Brokers and Advisors). “You have to be professionally satisfied with a company’s suitability for an IPO or UK Listing.”
While many Israeli companies approached Mark to list them on the LSE, he declined most until the arrival “of this gem” – Ethernity Networks!
It sparkled with brilliance.
Ethernity Networks Ltd, is a data network processing technology company, that delivers data processing technology used in high-end carrier ethernet applications across the telecom, mobile, security and data centre markets.
In simple vocabulary, the company’s technology provides “speedier performance on communications networks by utilizing hardware that can be programmed.” According to company founder and CEO David Levi, the competitive advantage of Ethernity’s patent-protected solutions “lies in the silicon surface it uses, which is 80% smaller than that used by the competition, and in the speed of code-writing.”
Israeli Ambassador to the UK Mark Regev (centre) with Mark and Jodi Reichenberg (left) and David and Dorit Levi.
In other words, says Levi, “Ethernity’s solution is both faster and cheaper.”
Making his Mark
“While on the face of it, the Company was very small and the valuation may have been in question,” says Mark, “it was the background of the Company Management, it’s vision and product that seemed to tick all the boxes.”
After a careful due diligence, Mark contracted with the Company and the rest as they say is history.
Mark Reichenberg receiving recognition at the LSE by Marcus Stuttard, head of the LSE UK Primary Markets
“The Company initially wanted to raise £10 million on an after money valuation of about £35 million, but so successful was the investor road show and what the investors believed the Company could do, the IPO was oversubscribed by 110% with offers of placement for £21 million coming in.” The Company decided to accept £15 million and listed with a market capitalisation of £45 million. “Within nine days, the share price had increased by 36% to the level it still sits at, with the market capitalisation now being £62 million (that’s ZAR 1 billion).”
“This is an important day,” said a beaming Ambassador Regev, “as Ethernity is the first successful Israeli listing in two years on the London Stock Exchange and represented the thirtieth Company from Israel to list on AIM.” He proudly emphasised that this listing, “reinforced the important economic ties between Israel and the UK, underpinning the successful 2.25 billion Euro Israeli Government Bond Issue on the UK markets in January of this year.”
Mark Regev, the Israeli Ambassador to the UK receiving the welcoming plaque to the LSE from Marcus Stuttard, head of the LSE UK Primary Markets
Deservedly upbeat, Mark expressed that “politically, this was a very important day for Israel and Israeli Companies. The massive oversubscription for the share shows the faith that UK investors have in quality Israeli companies. The UK markets love Israeli tech and I was proud to deliver Ethernity Networks to the market.”
The listing was widely welcomed by the UK financial markets and the London Stock Exchange, with one media report describing it as “a breath of fresh air”.
The Ambassador was confident that this listing “would be the first of many to follow” and expressed the hope to be shaking Mark’s hand on many more occasions of listing ceremonies of Israeli Companies at the London Stock Exchange.
