Happy Monday. In case you invest in Israeli traded stocks you may have noticed that today, Monday, April 7th, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchance (TASE) was closed for trading due to a labor dispute. C’mon people! That’s not the way to run the economy in 2008.
Fortunately, the March 2008 issue of the “Invest In Israel” brings some more encouraging news. The Newsletter is put together by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors.
March 2008 headlines:
ILSI BIOMED ISRAEL 2008 CONFERENCE TO TAKE PLACE MAY 27-29 IN TEL AVIV
ILSI Biomed conferences and will host Israel’s 2nd International Stem Cell Meeting on “The Potency of Stem Cells”. Close to 70 companies will exhibit, attracting over 5,000 scientists, engineers and managers. Conference link: http://www.ilsi.org.il/
MICROSOFT CONTINUES INVESTING IN ISRAEL
Software giant plans research lab, buys Israeli advertising and virtualization companies. The world’s largest software maker is making plans to invest millions of dollars in a new research lab that will focus on applied research, in collaboration with computer science departments at Israeli universities. The Israel Innovation Lab will be the only one of its kind outside the United States, and will be situated in Herzliya Pituach.
FRANCE TELECOM SUBSIDIARY TO BUY EMBLAZE’S ORCA INTERACTIVE
Viaccess, a subsidiary of, France Telecom, the main communication company in France and one of the largest in the world, is buying the Israeli cellular technology company, Orca Interactive, from the Emblaze group. Emblaze, the parent company of a group of technology companies, owns 60% of Orca’s stock. Ra’anana-based Orca develops middleware software that connects different applications – for television-over-Internet protocol.
LEADING BRAZILIAN OPTICAL COMPANY ACQUIRES ISRAELI CIVCOM
Brazilian provider of optical network products, Padtec S/A, has acquired the Israeli optoelectronic module manufacturer, Civcom Ltd for an estimated $30-40 million. Civcom, located in Petach Tikva, is a pioneer in the development and manufacturing of cost saving dynamic optical solutions for communications, test and measurement, and military applications
TEVA’S IVAX PHARMACEUTICALS EXPANDS OPERATIONS IN EUROPE
Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world’s largest manufacturer of generic medicines, is increasing its operations in Europe. Plans call for the expansion of its Ivax facilities in Waterford, Ireland, with investment value of €65M and in the largest Israeli investment in the Czech Republic to date Teva is investing $60.7 million in the expansion of the Ivax plant in Opava.Teva acquired Ivax in January 2006 at a record $7.4 Billion.
INDIAN TATA TO OPEN SOFTWARE CENTER IN ISRAEL
Group Chairman Ratan Tata, will visit Israel in May. Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) Israel, the Israel arm of Tata’s information technology firm, was established in Israel two and a half years ago Tata Consultancy is one of the world’s five largest IT consultancy companies. It has a market cap. of $30B, and a net profit of appx. $1B.
PRIME MINISTER OLMERT AND ISRAELI DELEGATION MEET WITH 80 CEO’S OF MAJOR JAPANESE COMPANIES DURING VISIT TO TOKYO
During his visit to Tokyo last month, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with the leaders of major Japanese businesses and extended an invitation to 450 company representatives to visit Israel and explore future investment opportunities. Included in these companies were Toyota, Nissan and Isuzu in the automotive industry, investment houses such as Daiwa, Mitsubishi, Tokio Marine and Mizuho Financial Group, Airline company ANA, food company Kikkoman, Life Sciences company MLS, Electronics giants Toshiba, NTT and NEC and the President of the Nikkei Exchange
ISRAEL SIGNS AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION TREATY WITH TAIWAN
In an effort to prevent double taxation and encourage investment, The Ministry of Finance has approved a new tax treaty with Taiwan. Similar to the other 40+ tax treaties already in place, the treaty will follow the format set by the OECD (Organization for Economic Development) which stipulates that taxes will be deducted at source in the country where the payment was made.
ISRAEL’S UNEMPLOYMENT LOWEST SINCE 1990s
The Central Bureau of Statistics announced that Israel’s unemployment fell to a seasonally adjusted 6.7% in Q4/07, compared with 7.2% in the preceding quarter and 7.8% in Q4/06. This is the lowest rate of unemployment in Israel since the early 1990s and the first time it has fallen below the 7% level.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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