ECONOMIC NEWS SURVEY
December 1, 1996
ISRAELI VENTURE-CAPITAL FUND RAISES $12-MILLION IN SINGAPORE
("Ma'ariv" Nov. 21)
A new capital savings fund, "Vertex" has raised $20-million dollars
from the Singapore Technologies Corp. and from the government capital
fund, "Yozma." It is Singapore Technologies' first investment in Israel,
and its share is $12-million; it has promised to mobilize additional
investors in the Far East. "Yozma" put in $8-million into the capital
savings fund, whose total is expected to reach $35-million within the
coming half year.
Singapore Technologies is linked to the Singapore government and
invests in more than 100 companies in Asia in the fields of semi-
conductors, computer programs, cellular communications, etc. It was set up
in 1967, and its annual turnover is $3-billion. The new venture-capital
fund will be managed in Israel by Yoram Oron, who was the director-general
of the Arit Co., and chairman of Telgate of the I.C.A. Group, and also by
Allan Peled who until lately was responsible for the banking branch of
investments in the Evergreen Group. The goal of the fund is to help
companies market their products in Asia through the widespread contacts of
Singapore Technologies.
"TOP IMAGE" COMPUTER PROGRAM SELLS SHARES IN NEW YORK
("Ma'ariv" Nov. 25)
Two Israeli companies last week raised $22-million in public sales of
their shares in the U.S. The Jerusalem computer program company "Accent"
mobilized $15.3-million in a second offer of 1.8 million of its shares and
options in the U.S., while the Ramat Gan company "Top Image" sold
$6.9-million worth of shares in its first public offer in the U.S. This
company was founded in 1991, and has developed a program to identify
written material through scanning and automatic processing of forms. In
1995, its earnings were about $400,000 from a sales turnover of
$2.5-million. Last Friday, its shares jumped by 32 percent to a price of
$6.60 each; at the end of the trading day they stood at $6.25, or 25
percent higher than the original offering price on the stock exchange.
"TENUPORT" EXPORTS 250,000 CRATES OF PUMELOS TO JAPAN.
("Yediot Aharonot" Nov. 21)
The largest citrus shipment ever to be exported from Israel to Japan
left Haifa yesterday aboard the vessel "S.Panda", comprising a quarter of
a million crates of pumelo fruit sent by the "Tenuport" Co., and sold for
$4.5-million. The total amount of pumelos to be exported by this company
to Japan this year will reach 750,000 crates, or 50 percent of Israel's
total annual citrus shipments to Japan. The Japanese last year paid $1,550
a ton for pumelos, while the price this year has been $1,200.
ORGANIC ISRAELI-MADE COTTON GARMENTS SELLING WELL IN EUROPE
("Ma'ariv" Nov. 25)
Organic cotton, grown without chemicals in kibbutz cotton fields in
Israel, has become popular in the textile market in Europe. This market,
particularly in Germany, is very sensitive to environmental factors and
prefers products made from raw materials which are environment-friendly.
In growing this cotton, no sprays or chemical materials are used, except
for Dea Sea minerals. Its success relative to natural cotton could
encourage a new branch of the textile industry in Israel, which has been
experiencing lower profits because of the high cost of labor and low
competitive talent. The production of organic cotton so far has reached
between $1.5-million and $2-million, according to Danny Gogol, managing
director of "D & D" in Israel, representing catalog companies in Germany.
If the allocation of land for cotton fields continues, the sales could
reach about $10-million in 1997-1998.
ISRAELI COMPANY TO COMPUTERIZE GERMAN TELEPHONE EXCHANGES
("Ma'ariv" Nov. 27)
The "Mind" Co. of Yokneam has won a tender to computerize telephone
systems in 1,500 exchanges of the German Postal Ministry. Including the
programming, and setting up of the systems, the project will total 3
million marks. "Mind's" director, Monica Eizinger, says the data for the
exchanges will be concentrated in about 200 control and monitoring
centers. The systems will indicate the number of calls, their cost, their
duration and their distribution according to extensions, and general data
on the telephones of the ministry.
REAL INVESTMENTS BY ISRAELI COMPANIES ABROAD UP TO $860m.
("Ma'ariv" Nov. 28)
Real investments abroad by Israeli companies went up between January
and October this year to $860-million, a dramatic increase of 61 percent
compared to the same period last year. This was reported by the foreign
exchange directorate of the Bank of Israel. In the past three years, the
average annual investments abroad have totalled $700-million. The increase
is attributed to the greater involvement by Israeli companies in
multi-national corporations, after all foreign exchange restrictions were
listed for investments abroad. The companies mainly involved are large
corporations in the fields of pharmaceuticals and computer programming,
which buy up companies abroad which have developed marketing and
production facilities, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In the past
four years, 10 Israeli companies in the industrial sector, have acquired
such firms to a total value of $1-billion, half of that in 1996. These
acquisitions were largely financed by raising capital abroad through
selling shares on stock exchanges.