With the example of ElectReon before it, ICB (Israel China Biotechnology), which invests in healthcare companies and whose financial situation is challenging, seeks to enter "smart road" technology. ElectReon's share price has risen 340% so far this year, bringing it to an impressive NIS 3 billion market cap.
ICB, which is under Chinese control, announced last week that it had signed an agreement for a bridging loan of up to NIS 1 million for German startup company Magment, which deals in wireless charging of electric vehicles. This follows a non-binding memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies recently for the merger of Magment into ICB.
At the same time as the bridging loan agreement, ICB signed an agreement for an allocation of 2.5% of its shares to an unconnected investor, who will invest a sum equivalent to the loan extended to the German smart road company at NIS 1.1 per share, about 8% below ICB's market price.
"Magment deals in research and development of technology for wireless charging of different kinds of electric vehicles, including cars, scooters, buses, urban trains, fork lift trucks, and so on.," ICB stated.
The German company was founded in 2015 by Mauricio Esguerra and Dr. Ralph Lucke, "two renowned experts in magnetism and materials", who worked for many years at Siemens. Magment currently has twelve employees, and so far €600,000 has been invested in the company.
The merger agreement states that Magment's activity will be merged into ICB, and its owners will receive 65% of the shares in ICB. Completion of the deal is subject to several preconditions.
"Magment has several registered patents, the main one being for concrete components with magnetic properties," ICB says. "The combination of the special concrete with the coils developed by Magment will make possible a high rate of energy transmission and the transfer of energy in volumes that facilitate the charging of heavy vehicles such as electric buses."
ICB initial announcement on this matter a few weeks ago led to a 20% jump in its share price, but the price has fallen back since then. So far this year the stock has risen by more than 70%, giving the company a current market cap of some NIS 45 million.
At present, ICB mainly invests in advanced technology companies in healthcare, with an emphasis on companies with substantial potential in the Chinese market.
In the past three years, (2017 to June 2020), the company, controlled by its chairman Huang Qingxi, has accumulated losses of NIS 17 million. In its financial statements for the first half of 2020, which continued to bear a going concern qualification from its auditors, ICB presented a portfolio consisting of ten companies.
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