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Despite fears that Iran could soon develop nuclear weapons, by and large Israel’s business and finance movers and shakers are confident Israel will weather whatever storm comes at them and persevere on the business front.
This week CNBC met with business leaders from all sectors of the Israeli economy to get their perspective on how the potential threat from Iran impacts business.
It all started with a trip to Northern Israel along the Syrian and Lebanese borders. About ten miles south of that border is the Israeli town of Rosh Pina, home to On Track Innovations [OTIV 1.5799 0.0799 (+5.33%) ]. The company manufactures electronic devices that allow drivers to park and pay with a personal meter that’s connected to a bank or credit card account. They also make special payment meters used by gasoline stations so no cash or payment is needed on the spot.
The company's CEO is Oded Bashan. He’s says while the security situation in Israel is always in the back of your mind, it isn’t a concern for him, his investors or his customers. In fact he says his investors haven’t even brought up the issue.
During the 2006 Lebanon War his area was targeted by Hezbollah rockets. They kept operating right through the air raid sirens. His company was however hit by the recent flooding in Thailand and production was disrupted. On Track Innovations has operations all over the world. Bashan says, “I’m actually much more concerned about the weather than I am about Iran.”
After that it was on to the city of Caesaria on the Mediterranean coast. ColorChip is a company that specializes in high speed transceivers that transmit a lot of data very fast. CEO Koby Segal says his chips and transceivers will one day be in computers all over the world, and they’ll be affordable, and able to download a full length movie in a matter of seconds. When asked about the threat of Iran, he also said while it’s scary Israel and his business won’t be running away from this threat or any other.
The next stop: Israel’s biggest player in the financial industry, Psagot. They manage Israel’s largest pension fund, have high net private wealth clients, a trading operation, and have about 40 billion dollars under management.
Zach Herzog is from Massachusetts and is in charge of the company’s global sales. He travels often and when he does executives in Europe and North America do indeed question the security situation. But perhaps nobody questions it more than Israel’s own pension funds. Two years ago 90 percent of their assets were invested in Israel. They have what Zach calls a “true home bias.” But in the last 24 months there’s been a major shift here. Now only about half of all Israeli pension fund assets are invested in the Israeli market — the rest is invested overseas.
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics is a Petakh Tikva based pharmaceutical firm. Their mission: to stop Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS. The company recently found some success in more than 50 percent of the patients who were part of a joint study between Hadassah Medical Center and Brainstorm.
Here’s how it works. Stem cells are extracted from a patient. Over the next 30 days they divide. After that they’re injected into the patient with the hope they’ll replenish cells under attack.
Chaim Lebovits is the Chairman of Brainstorm and one of the company’s biggest investors. He says hundreds of patients stricken by ALS are begging for a chance to test the process. Among them patients who live in countries who consider Israel an enemy, including Iran.
Mr. Lebovits also has a large interest in Shemen Oil. This company is about to start drilling off the coast of the Mediterranean for natural gas. A large find was recently found in the waters off Northern Israel.
Shemen’s Chairman is Gabi Ashkenazi. Until last year he was Israel’s highest ranking military officer, Chief of Staff. He’s read the intelligence reports on Iran and their leaders. We asked if he thought Iran’s leaders were sane? His answer: “I don’t know.”
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