Miami | Thursday, May 17th, 2012
Haute 100 lister Dr. Phillip Frost is a Miami Beach entrepreneur and billionaire whose Gamma Trust recently acquired 1 million shares of Prolor Biotech for $5 million as part of its public offering. Frost is Chairman of several companies, one of which is Nes-Ziona, an Israel-based company that closed its offering Wednesday with net proceeds of $35 million; it sold 7.48 million shares.
Another company Frost shares, Miami-based Ladenberg Thalmann Financial Services, was a co-manager of the offering for Prolor. Frost’s Gamma Trust now owns 12.6 million shares of Prolor for a 20.2 percent stake in the company according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A development-stage biotechnology company, Prolor specializes in the creation of longer-acting versions of previously approved therapies.
Aside from Gamma Trust, Nes-Ziona and Ladenberg Thalmann Financial Services, Frost is also chairman and CEO of another Miami-based company, Opko Health. He buys shares of Opko on an almost weekly basis. Thus far, in May Frost has already purchased $3.4 million in Opko shares in 11 transactions. Additionally, he is a major investor in Miami-based Vector Group, SafeStitch Medical, Non-Invasive Monitoring Systems and Castle Brands.
