After turbulent days in the stock of the non-bank credit company Learn projects Controlled by Ryan Moand, the company announced this morning (Thursday) that the Securities Authority is conducting an “administrative investigation”, which concerns the guarantee provided by the controlling owner of the company, prior to the publication of the company’s prospectus in December 2019, and for which no disclosure was made.
● Malran presents: What is the connection between a stakeholder transaction and a loan that got tangled up
At the same time, the company announced a self-purchase plan for its bonds (series B, C and D) in the amount of up to NIS 50 million, after their yields soared in recent trading days.
Melran Projects deals in the field of non-bank credit, a field that has gained negative public attention due to the entanglement of two other companies: Younet Credit and Backing Holdings. Malran also deals in the field of discounting checks as well as providing credit for the purchase of used vehicles in the USA.
The Malran share lost 22% of its value in the five trading days that ended on Sunday this week, but on Monday the share jumped by a sharp rate of 7.1%, with the company’s market value now estimated before the opening of trading at NIS 275.8 million. At the end of the last month, the company’s stock fell by 23%.
The company has three tradable bond series (B, C and D). The yield to maturity of series B stands at 9.2%, and it is traded for an average life (MAM) of 1.38 years. Less than a month ago, on September 22, Series B was still traded with a yield to maturity of 6%. The other two series are traded at Gan with a high yield to maturity of 8.9% (C) and 7.6% (B).
“Expression of confidence in financial soundness”
As mentioned, the company announced this morning a self-purchase program of its bonds in the amount of up to NIS 50 million, as a step defined as “an expression of confidence by the company’s management in the company’s financial strength and ability to service the debt.”
At the same time as it embarked on a self-purchase program of its bonds, Malran reported that the Securities Authority is conducting an administrative inquiry in its case. The inquiry, according to the company’s report, is regarding the guarantee “which, according to the Securities Authority, was placed by the company to guarantee the debts of the controlling owner of the company”, prior to the publication of the prospectus it submitted in December 2019, “and about which no disclosure was given in the prospectus”.
The company clarified that the same guarantee was canceled, without being realized, later in March 2020. The company itself, it should be noted, was issued on December 22, 2020, that is, after the guarantee itself had already been canceled without being realized.
Last month we reported that Malaren received an option free of charge to purchase from its controlling owner, Ryan Moand, his share in a company called Torab, which is being prepared for an IPO in Tel Aviv. The option was granted to her as a qualifying transaction, i.e. “as a transaction with a controlling shareholder whose only purpose is to benefit the company”. The company had another connection to Torav and its owners, who were guarantors of a NIS 15 million loan that Maleran Projektim made last year to the Mahamid Tawfik construction company, a few days before it ran into difficulties.