December 29, 2022
The interim settlement between the two companies settles the claims about mutual obligations and ensures the continued production of the air purification systems. The company has started implementing an efficiency plan and is planning “capital operations of a very substantial scale”
In the photo above: Ora Air’s solution for monitoring and purifying air in business spaces
A compromise was reached in the dispute between Ora Air (Aura Smart Air) and its production contractor, Beit El Mezichron Yaakov Industries (Beth-El Industries), which allows Ora Air to continue its production of air purification systems. The two companies signed a binding interim agreement, which amends some of the clauses in the production agreement from May 2021, and regulates Ora Air’s debts to Beth El. The conflict broke out in August 2021 after Beit El Industries claimed Ora Air’s debt to it, and Ora Air claimed that Beit El was not meeting its production obligations.
The agreement states that Ora Air’s debt amounts to 750 thousand dollars and that it will pay it in three equal payments. Starting in December 2022 and until the end of the existing inventory, it has committed to purchase from Beit El at least 500 Ora Air systems every month for an advance payment. Although Beit El will continue to produce products and filters for the company, the agreement includes a process to stop the joint activity, during which Ora Air will purchase from it the production lines, inventory, components, molds and more.
Bank loan and efficiency plan
Bethel Industries is engaged in the development, production, installation and maintenance of ventilation and air filtration systems. The company specializes in group spaces such as institutions, hospitals and strategic facilities, and is considered a prominent supplier of the IDF and NATO armies. The Ora Air company from Azor was established in 2018 by the two brothers Aviad and Alder Schneiderman, and developed technology to identify, monitor and purify air infections, including corona viruses. The company began its first sales during 2020, and in June 2021 it raised NIS 35 million through an offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Its systems are also sold in Europe and India.
In 2022, it received orders for air purification systems for educational institutions in Israel amounting to NIS 7.2 million. At the same time, the company needs an infusion of cash: in July 2022 it signed a bank loan agreement in the amount of 4 million dollars, and in November 2022 it announced an efficiency plan that will reduce its annual expenses by about 800 thousand dollars. The plan includes a reduction in the scope of the workforce, a 5% reduction in executive salaries, a suspension of regulatory activity that does not contribute directly to sales, and a temporary focus on the target markets of Israel and the USA. The company also reported that it is “working to carry out capital operations on a very substantial scale, in order to ensure the continuation of its regular operations”.
Posted in the categories: news, manufacturing and subcontracting, Israeli industry
Posted in tags: Aura Air, Aura Air
