An interview with Abba Horwitz of Old School Partners was featured as part of our new subscription newsletter, Israel Opportunity Investor. You can find out more about the company and the opportunities we cover at www.israelnewsletter.com
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Tell us a little about yourself and your fund.
Abba Horwitz, Portfolio Manager: We started started Old School Partners in March of 1999. Since then, we’ve compounded a net return to investors of around 19%. We’re running the fund for the most part from Israel. With a junior partner, I’m managing roughly $60 million.
What’s your philosophy?
AH: We focus primarily on the small to midcap world. We apply a value approach. Basically, we’re looking for two things. We’re looking for value where there is a clear catalyst to unlock this value or cheap growth with value undiscovered, on the cusp of coming out. Unfortunately, I’m not a big commodity buff and have not been riding this current wave.
Can you give us a couple of examples of some successes you’ve had? (Continue »)
Tell us a bit about yourself.
Eze Vidra, VCCafe.com: I’m originally from Argentina. My parents moved to Israel with me in 1987 when I was just a kid. I grew up in Israel and did my army service. I moved to the US about 4 years ago. I’ve now been in Northern California for over a year. In 2003 I cofounded a firm that enabled text input solutions for PDAs ad mobile devices. At the time, it was almost impossible for Israeli companies to raise money. During the fund raising process, I met a CEO with a firm that eventually offered me a position on the spot. That firm was Gerson Lehrman Group, the hedge fund research firm. I started in IT as a project manager and grew into a position where I was managing the integration of business requirements and IT products. (Continue »)
Written by: Aaron Katsman | May 9, 2008
Aaron Katsman
www.IsraelNewsletter.com
Tomorrow is my daughter’s 7th birthday, so as is customary here at IOI, I will highlight a birthday stock to use as a gift for her. I must note that my wife has been racking her brains as to what present we should get, and she, not surprisingly, did a great job of getting a gift that we think our 7 year old will love. For full disclosure, my contribution consisted of a few grunts, when my wife asked my opinion of certain possibilities.
Because she is turning 7, why not look at a stock that is trading in that range. Well for starters we have Orckit Communications(ORCT). They develop telecommunication equipment that enables transmission of broadband services. They are a classic old-school Israeli company that has cutting edge technology, but virtually no one to buy it. They have one real customer, KDDI in Japan, and we have been hearing for a few years now about another customer that is about to make a purchase. Unfortunately, outside of a small deal with Deutsche Telecom(DT), where we have yet to see much in the way of revenue, it’s the same story quarter after quarter. Orckit may be a good stock to get my mother in law for mother’s day, but doesn’t make the grade for my oldest child.
The stock that we will purchase for her is Ulticom(ULCM.pk). They provide service essential signaling solutions for wireless, wireline, and Internet communications. One of our favorites, Comverse Technology(CMVT.pk) owns a huge stake in the company, and as we have written, we are looking for Comverse to try and sell off Ulticom. Comverse is trying to strealine their business, and create shareholder value. Hopefully, a sale of Ulticom should fetch a nice premium.
Happy birthday sweety, and I hope that you are blessed with a year filled with health and happiness.
Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in CMVT.pk and ULCM.pk. He has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 5/9/08.
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Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.
Written by: Israel Investor Newsletter | May 7, 2008
IOI’s Zack Miller and Aaron Katsman were interviewed by CNBC’s Squawk Box. CNBC is here in Israel celebrating Israel’s 60th Birthday. See the video here.
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NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.
