Leon Rekanti Acquires 6.5% Stake in Struggling Biomed Company Avogen Amid Control Battle

Leon Rekanti intensified the control battle over the troubled biomed company Avogen by purchasing 800,000 shares on Monday at $0.50 each, investing $400,000 (approximately 1.2 million NIS). This acquisition raised his ownership to 6.5%. The move follows investors Kfir Zilberman and Ron Yair Feld's earlier purchase, which brought their combined stake to 16.7%. Zilberman and Feld are pushing to replace Avogen's management team, whose shares trade on both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.

Rekanti, formerly chairman and CEO of IDB Holdings and chairman of several major Israeli companies, founded GlenRock Israel, a family office investing mainly in technology and life sciences, after selling control of IDB in 2003. On Thursday, Avogen's stock rose about 9%, reflecting market speculation about the escalating control struggle.

On July 26, Zilberman and Feld rejected Avogen's offer to appoint a single representative to the board and demanded a special shareholders meeting by September 4, 2026, to vote on replacing the entire board with new directors including Itay Maroz and Dr. Adi Zuluf-Shani. Shareholders can vote for only one slate.

Additionally, Avogen plans to propose increasing its registered share capital from 30 million to 150 million shares to facilitate capital raising but also significantly dilute existing shareholders. Following the capital raise, a reverse stock split will be executed to artificially raise the share price above NASDAQ's $1 minimum listing requirement. Zilberman and Feld suggest a split ratio between 1-for-2 and 1-for-15, with a 1-for-2 split doubling the share price to $1.40.

Avogen's market value has plummeted from about 2.5 billion NIS a decade ago to under 30 million NIS today. The company has lost 354 million NIS over the past five years and holds less than 20 million NIS in cash.