Viola buys 23% of Amiad Filtration Systems

Viola Private Equity has purchased approximately 23% of Amiad Filtration Systems Ltd. (AIM:AFS) for $9 million.

Viola purchased the stake in Amiad from Icelandic investment firm Atorka Group hf, according to a report in Globes.

Viola partners Harel Beit-On and Osnat Ronen are expected to be named to Amiad's board of directors.

Viola Private Equity partner Osnat Ronen said, "We were impressed that the company has impressive and consistently high growth, high quality products, a wide and stable market, a solid reputation, international standing and talented management. We have been following Amiad for a long time, and turned to a long-term investment, which will lead the company to more significant growth."

Amiad Filtration Systems, controlled by Galilee-based Kibbutz Amiad, with a 53.9 percent stake, manufactures water filtration systems. The company sells its products in 70 countries worldwide. Founded in 1962, Amiad went public on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in 2005.

Viola Private Equity, founded in 2008, is part of the Viola Group founded by Shlomo Dovrat, Harel Beit-On, Avi Zeevi and the late Aharon Dovrat. Viola Group has over $1.8 billion under management.

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Amiad announces rise in profits due to growing demand for clean water

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Thailand seeks Israeli water technologies

Amiad announces rise in profits due to growing demand for clean water

Growing demand for water filtration products have boosted revenues and profits at Israel-based Amiad Filtration Systems.

Pre-tax profits rose from $3.6m to $5.4m (£3m) for the six months to June 30 as turnover increased from $27.4m to $39m, according to a statement by the company.

Amiad makes filters to remove pollutants, used by heavy and extractive industries such as mining, and by municipal water treatment plants and irrigation systems.

Rami Treger, CEO, said Amiad was benefiting from rising global demand for clean water, driven by population increases and rising prosperity, coupled with problems of supply exacerbated by climate change and pollution.

"[We] anticipated an increase in global water investment and increased sales and marketing efforts accordingly, resulting in increased trading in all main parts of the business."

Amiad's shares, listed on the London Stock Exchange, have risen more than 60 per cent over the past year.

Bloomberg: "Blooming Deserts Turn Israeli Water Industry Into Money Magnet"

Bloomberg.com recently published a positive article about the prospects for Israel's water industry.

According to Bloomberg, "Some 300 Israeli companies make equipment to deliver water or purify it with lasers or diffusion, putting them in a position to profit as climate change, population growth and food shortages strain supplies. With agriculture accounting for about two-thirds of global water use, the Israeli government predicts overseas sales of the technology will top $10 billion by 2017."

The article mentions Netafim, a world leader in irrigation solutions; Amiad Filtration Systems, which will help manage sewage treatment at the Beijing Olympics; and Desalitech, a Tel Aviv-based startup that has apparently invented a way to take salt out of water using 20 percent less energy than standard reverse osmosis.

The article also includes interviews with Nir Belzer, managing partner at the AquAgro Fund, and Oded Distel, director of NewTech, Israel's national program to promote water technologies.

Thailand seeks Israeli water technologies

"Globes" reports that a delegation of senior Bangkok municipal officials will visit Israel this week as guests of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. The delegation is seeking ways to cooperate with Israeli water technology and sewage treatment solutions companies.

The current trip follows the visit by a Thai delegation to the International Water Technologies and Environmental Control Exhibition and Conference - Watec 2007 in Tel Aviv last November. The present delegation will visit companies with technologies and systems that can be utilized by the Bangkok municipal water system.

Israel's commercial attache to Thailand Etty Levy said, "Thailand in general, and Bangkok in particular, suffers from severe water problems because of a lack of water management tools. The Thais admire Israel's achievements in water technology and talk about the country as a 'green desert' thanks to its drip irrigation and other technologies."

Levy added that the Bangkok municipality had recently published tenders for the construction of water treatment facilities worth an aggregate $600 million.

The Bangkok delegation will visit Amiad Filtration Systems Ltd., Tahal Group, Global Environmental Solutions Ltd. (GES) and other companies.