Clal Industries and Investments Ltd., an Israeli holding company that owns 42.9% of the payments software vendor Fundtech Ltd., wants to raise its stake to nearly 60%.
Clal, of Tel Aviv, announced a tender offer last week to buy up to 2.3 million Fundtech shares at $12.50. Clal said it already owns 6.7 million shares.
The price is a 4.4% premium over Fundtech's $11.97 closing price last Tuesday, the day before the offer was announced, and Clal said its offer would run through April 3.
Fundtech stock was trading at $12.08 a share Friday afternoon, unchanged from Thursday's closing price.
Fundtech, a maker of banking software for corporate cash management and foreign exchange, has dual headquarters in Jersey City, N.J., and Ramat-Gan, near Tel Aviv. Its shares trade on the Nasdaq and Tel Aviv stock markets.
Clal is a subsidiary of the Israeli holding company IDB Development Corporation Ltd., which holds an additional 98,000 Fundtech shares. Clal and IDB jointly own 43.6% of Fundtech now and would own 58.6% if the tender offer is fully subscribed.
