Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) has injected $20 million into Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM) as part of an agreement from September 2008. Israel Corp. owns 8.9% of the Migdal Ha-Emek independent foundry.
Israel Corp. made the investment for Tower equity equivalent equity notes based on $0.26 per share. These equivalent equity notes carry no voting or dividend rights, bear no interest, are not linked to any index, and are not redeemable.
Tower CEO Russell Ellwanger said, "This additional capital will assist us in continuing our efforts to become the leading specialty foundry in the world and will provide needed flexibility as we continue to leverage the synergies inherent in our merger with Jazz Technologies and streamline our worldwide operations."
Yesterday, Tower appointed Amir Elstein as chairman, replacing Dov Moran, who will continue to serve as a director. Elstein is director at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), where he was recently EVP of global pharmaceutical resources.
Tower's share rose 17% on Nasdaq yesterday to $0.20, giving a market cap of $24 million. The share rose 28% by midday on the TASE to NIS 0.97.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 7, 2009
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