Israel’s Delek plans unit Ithaca’s London IPO; Intel weighs Mobileye valuation cut

Ithaca Energy, the North Sea exploration and production unit of Israeli oil and gas major Delek Group Ltd, has said it intends to list on the London Stock Exchange.

While details on the proposed initial public offering or the targeted valuation are not yet known, Ithaca will offer a small stake, owned by Delek, the parent group. Delek is promoted by businessman Yitzhak Tshuva.

Ithaca said that after the flotation, the public will hold at least 10% of the company’s shares in order for it to be listed in the FTSE UK indices.

An earlier Bloomberg report had said that Ithaca would offer shares worth $1 billion at an overall valuation of $6 billion.

Ithaca, which manages oil and gas fields off the coast of Scotland, sells most of what it produces in the UK itself.

In all, Ithaca controls 28 oil and gas fields of which Ithaca Energy, the company which will be listed on the LSE, controls eight. These eight fields account for 63% of the group’s so called 2P and 2C reserves.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will act as joint coordinators of the IPO while HSBC Bank plc, Jefferies, and Merrill Lynch will act as joint book-runners, and ING Bank N.V. will act as co-lead manager.

Mobileye

Meanwhile, a news report in The Wall Street Journal has said that Intel Corp could cut the IPO valuation of its Israeli self-driving cars unit Mobileye to under $20 billion from an initial target of $50 billion.

By selling fewer shares at a lower price, Intel and its advisors are hoping that after trading begins, the share price will rise, the news report said.

The roadshow for the IPO will begin this week, while the offering will hit the US stock market on October 26.

The Israeli-origin tech company was founded in 1999 by chief executive officer Amnon Shashua.

In 2014, the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of $5.3 billion. Three years later, it was acquired by Intel for $15 billion and de-listed.