US consulting firm Berkeley Research Group (BRG), the controlling shareholder in Israeli cyberattack company NSO Group, has agreed to acquire NSO's counter drone unit Convexum. BRG has reached agreement with the trustee appointed by the court to rehabilitate the company. NSO acquired Convexum two years ago for $4 million and at the end of 2021 BRG requested that a trustee be appoint after a loan taken from Convexum by NGO was not repaid.
According to the new agreement, BRG, through the Noal Fund that it controls, will acquire the company from the trustee Adv. Ori Gaon, for $29 million including $9 million in medium-term financing for the company, partly from cash in the counter-drone company, $7.5 million to the company's creditors, injecting $11.5 million cash into the company and a $1.25 million fee for Adv. Gaon.
In the trustee's request to approve the deal, details of offers from Convexum that were not accepted have been revealed. Qumra venture capital $16 million to buy the startup and keep 80% of its employees while Fortissimo Fund submitted a bid of $24 million.
Under the agreement signed, Noal has committed to keep all the company's employees for at least one year and pay bonuses of 40% of the employee's salaries at the end of that year, according to individual performances and management evaluations.
The trustee was highly critical of NSO's attempts to keep ownership of the company so that it could enhance an overall sale of NSO Group.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 4 2022.
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