These days, when it seems again that the corona is raising its head in Israel, the question arises whether we have won a new variant, or is it the same BA.5 variant known from the previous wave, which is making a comeback here? The question is also relevant to the vaccination policy, when in the coming days, special vaccines for the BA.5 variant are expected to land in Israel. Therefore, even in this period when the corona is becoming a disease that the public lives with and alongside, and the total number of institutional tests is decreasing, the genetic mapping of the corona is still important.
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The Omega company, which operates the Check2fly laboratory for corona testing in Tel Aviv, this week won the Ministry of Health’s tender for genetic sequencing for Corona. Omega, the sole winner of the tender, will perform approximately 6,000 genetic sequencing tests per week and thus will significantly increase the sequencing capacity compared to the one offered by the Ministry of Health’s laboratory So far, the Ministry of Health’s use of the flooring capabilities of private companies will direct the Ministry of Health’s laboratories to deal with other issues.
Liron Karsin, one of the owners of Omega, explains that the investment in the laboratory amounted to millions of shekels, but even if in a few months the corona will fade and the additional testing capacity will no longer be needed, the company believes that it will be able to use the capabilities built in the laboratory for additional types of genetic tests, beyond corona. For example, prenatal genetic tests, or mapping of cancer types to make decisions about disease treatment. In the future, genetic mapping is likely to have significance in many other diseases, both hereditary and non-hereditary. Omega is an old testing company, and there is no doubt that the corona has taken it a step further, but now it must conduct itself wisely in order to take advantage of the cash and capabilities it has built up, for the day after the pandemic.
Plans to merge with Bio View
This development comes amid Omega’s plans to merge with Bio and View The stock exchange, which currently trades at a value of NIS 57 million. According to the outline of the agreement, Omega will be fully merged into Bio View, which will allocate 82% of its shares to Omega owners. According to the plan, Karsin will be the CEO of the merged company. The agreement has not yet been signed and is still in the memorandum of understanding stage, but according to Bio View reports, the companies are still continuing to promote the agreement.
Although the merger is carried out in a plan similar to the introduction of an activity into the skeleton, Bio View actually has an activity in the field of automation of test systems, which has even been recording revenues for many years. In 2021, it recorded revenues of NIS 30 million, with a profit of NIS 2.1 million. There is potential synergy between BioView’s systems and Omega’s existing capabilities, and the new capabilities it now wants to develop in the field of genetic sequencing.
The announcement of the plan was probably made, among other things, as a containment move against plans to take over the company on behalf of the activist investor Shir Chen, who came to own about 10% of the company. Chen has already convened a meeting to appoint new directors on his behalf. In June, a first meeting was held on the subject, but Chen’s proposals were not accepted.
Another meeting is expected tomorrow (Tuesday) in which Chen seeks to appoint new directors to the company. It takes place after the investment house Yelin Lapidot sold its shares in the company, about 10%, to factors that are apparently identified with Chen, in a way that strengthened his power in the company.
Other prominent investors in the company are Emmanuel Gil, the chairman, who today owns 17% of the company. Private investors David Maimon and Sondra Rapaport own 8% and 7% respectively. The Blue Swan fund of investor Amit Berger owns another 6% of the company.
Meanwhile, the drama at the company has led to a 27% increase in the stock price since the attempted takeover of the company began in April. This is in contrast to the direction of the biomed sector in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.