Tuesday December 31, 9:06 am ET

Buyback offer on Israeli Liraz undersubscribed

JERUSALEM, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Israeli software firm Crystal Systems (Nasdaq:CRYS - News) said on Tuesday that a 10.2-million-shekel ($2.2 million) offering to buy back all the outstanding shares of its unit Liraz Systems (Tel Aviv: LRAZ.TA - News) was undersubscribed.

Crystal said in a statement 547,029 shares of software company Liraz were tendered on Monday at a price of 10.80 shekels per share, well below its target of 945,662 shares.

The company said it would now buy more than 270,000 Liraz shares.

Following the offering, Crystal owns 90 percent of Liraz, up from 86 percent. The two companies said in October they would merge their marketing, sales and technology development operations.

Liraz's shares were down 8.8 percent at 10.69 percent in afternoon trade in Tel Aviv. Crystal's Nasdaq-listed shares closed 12 cents lower at $2.16 on Monday.

Crystal, a unit of Formula Systems (Nasdaq: FORTY - news), makes software that enables clients to manage information technology.

Liraz develops and markets Appbuilder software through its wholly owned subsidiary BluePhoenix. AppBuilder software is a package used to manage and develop sophisticated applications for large enterprises.