Yoram Ettinger: Israele isolato ? Per niente ! 22/10/2011 the Jerusalem Boardroom #157, October 22, 2011
Israel Isolated? Israel Embraced by the Investment Community! Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought" Straight from the Jerusalem Boardroom #157, October 22, 2011
Walking the (pro-Israel) walk supersedes talking the (anti-Israel) talk. The following data provides some background to Standard & Poor's decision to upgrade Israel's credit rating to A+:
1. ChemChina acquired Israel's Agan Machteshim Chemicals for $2.4BN - $1.1BN in cash and $1.27BN in a non recourse loan (Globes, Oct. 18, 2011). Israel Electric Company will establish a $1.3BN solar energy plant in China, 25% owned by a Chinese partner (Globes, Oct. 10). The London-based Permira Private Equity negotiates the acquisition of 55% of Israel's Netafim for $450MN (Globes, September 22). The Chicago-based GTCR Private Equity acquired Israel's FundTech for $388MN (Globes, Sept. 19). Intel acquired Israel's TeleMap for $300MN (Globes, October 2). The Arris Group acquired Israel's BigBand for $172MN in cash (Globes, October 12). Tyco International acquired Israel's ViSonic for $99.5MN (Globes, Sept. 16). E-Bay acquired Israel's The Gifts project for $25MN, its 4th Israel acquisition since 2005 (Globes, Sept. 12). The E-storage giant, EMC, acquired Israel's ZettaPoint for $10MN, its 5th Israeli acquisition since 2006 (Globes, Oct. 2). Twitter acquired Israel's Julpan (Globes, September 23).
2. The Hong Kong-based Li Ka Shing's Horizons Ventures, the Malaysia-based Joshua Lim's Jfund and the Menlo Park-based Kleiner Perkins Caufied & Byers invested $30MN in Israel's Waze (Globes, Oct. 19). The Menlo Park-based Menlo Ventures, Eric Schmidt (Google's CEO), Michael Arrington (founder of the Silicon Valley's TechCrunch) and Troy Carter (founder of Coalition Media Group) invested $15MN in Israel's Shaker (Globes, Oct. 11). The Menlo Park-based Sequoia Partners and India's Northwest Venture Partners invested $11MN in Israel's Ravello (Globes, Sept. 27). The NYC-based OrbiMed, the Boston-based Oxford Bioscience Partners and the Mansfield, MA-based Covidien Ventures invested $11MN in Israel's SuperDimension (Globes, Sept. 14). The Menlo Park-based Khosla Ventures, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, the Menlo Park-based Bessemer Venture Partners, the NYC-based IA Ventures and the San Francisco-based Founders Fund invested $10MN in Israel's BillGuard (Globes, Oct. 19). Harbin (China) municipality and Israel-China Infinity Fund invest $10MN in ten Israeli start ups (Globes, Oct. 11). US VC funds invested $8MN in Israel's Motus GI (Globes, Oct. 6). The Boston-based Battery Ventures and the Holland-based Gimv NV co-led a $10MN 2nd round of private placement in Israel's ActivePath (Globes, Sept. 20). The Menlo Park-based Sequoia Partners led a $9MN investment in Israel's Mintigo (Globes, Sept. 20). The $1.7BN Italy's Sorin invested $7MN in Israel's EnoPace (Globes, Oct. 18). Hong Kong's Li Ka Shing invested $5.5MN in Israel's Magisto (Sept. 21). Microsoft invests $1.5MN in a joint E-Commerce 5 years project with Israel's Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology (Globes, Oct. 10).
3. Notwithstanding the anti-Israel policy of Turkey's ruling Islamist party, the Israel-Turkey trade balance during the first half of 2011 reached $2.35BN (Israeli export - $1.1BN, Turkey export – $1.25BN), compared with $3.1BN during the entire 2011 (Sept. 5). The scope of Israel-Singapore trade balance was $1BN, trending upward (Globes, Aug. 31).
