Isra-Mart srl: Africa-Israel completes sale of part of old NY Times bldg

www.bethelfinance.com

Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL) subsidiary AFI USA Inc. has completed the sale of nine floors in the old New York Times building in Manhattan for $160 million to Blackstone Group LP, after obtaining approval from the New York State Department of Law. AFI USA will report a pretax capital gain of $2 million on the sale.

AFI USA and Five Mile Capital Partners own the property in equal shares.

The sale reduces Africa-Israel's debt on the property to $186 million.

Africa-Israel still owns 22,000 square meters of retail space in the old New York Times building, after selling 32,000 square meters to Blackstone.

Africa-Israel, controlled by chairman Lev Leviev, bought the old New York Times building for $716 million in 2007, which was mostly financed with bank loans. In the wake of the US real estate crash, the building's value was cut by $500 million, causing Africa-Israel heavy losses. After violating the financial covenants of the loan, the company reached a debt settlement in late 2009 on the property, which resulted in a $370 million accounting gain.

AFI USA CEO Tamir Kazaz said, "The successful rezoning and debt reduction on the Times Square building, together with the repositioning of the building has enabled the company to maximize its value, as demand for office space in midtown Manhattan picks up."

Africa-Israel's share price rose 0.9% in morning trading today to NIS 21.90, giving a market cap of NIS 2.57 billion.

Bethel Finances: 7 cos in Road 6 northern extension tender

www.bethelfinance.com

Seven companies have entered the prequalification (PQ) stage of the tender to build the northern extension of the Road 6 (Cross-Israel Highway or Yitzhak Rabin Highway) toll road. The estimated cost of the project is several hundred million shekels, and is part of the NIS 27.5 billion Netivei Israel project.

The bidders are as follows:

• India's Larsen and Toubro Ltd. (BSE: 500510);
• Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL) with Shikun u'Binui Holdings Ltd. (TASE: SKBN) unit Shikun u'Binui Solel Boneh Building and Infrastructure Ltd.;
• Shafir Civil and Marine Engineering Ltd.;
• Minrav Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MNRV);
• Ashtrom Properties Ltd. (TASE:ASPR);
• Electra Ltd. (TASE: ELTR) with Gili and Yoel Azaria Ltd.

The BOT tender is for the construction of two contiguous sections of Road 6 (sections 7 and 13), and maintaining them for 25 years. At Yokne'am, the present northern terminus of Road 6, it will split into two directions. The current tender is for the western fork, which will run from Ein Tut Junction via Tel Kashish Junction to Somekh Junction in the Western Galilee. The 20-kilometer section will include a four-kilometer tunnel.

The bids will be examined by a joint committee Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport, together with the Cross Israel Highway Company Ltd. The committee is due to announce which companies passed the PQ stage by the end of September.

Bethel Finances: Facebook launches Israeli mobile application

www.bethelfinance.com

Facebook yesterday launched its new mobile application, "Facebook for Every Phone", based on software developed by Israeli start-up Snaptu Ltd., which Facebook acquired for $60-70 million in March. This was Facebook's first acquisition in Israel.

The application provides fast and easy access to simple mobile phones (i.e. not smartphones such as iPhones and Androids) that lack advanced operating systems. The application provides a Facebook news feed, messages box, events, alerts, requests for friendships, images, a members' list, personal profile, and general search function. These features already existed in Snaptu's application, which continues to manage the software itself.

Two features were added to the Facebook application: adding friends from the list of contacts in the mobile phone or by SMS or e-mail to an individual; and a link to Snaptu's mini app store.

It is not clear why Facebook waited four months to launch the application, which is almost identical to Snaptu's application, as both target regular mobile phones. Facebook plans to promote the application for 2,500 models of mobile phones, in order to boost the number of users with Internet access. There are 250 million such users.

Facebook has reached agreements with 20 mobile operators in 13 countries, including the UK, India, Turkey, Germany, and Indonesia. It is not known yet if Facebook has agreement with Israeli mobile carriers. Facebook will subsidize users' access cost via the application for three months, in order to encourage them to use it use up part of their Internet access plans.

Facebook's launch of the mobile application is important for the social network to compete against Google Inc's (Nasdaq: GOOG) entry into the field through its recently launched Google Plus. Google has developed a Google Plus application for Android, which will soon become available for iPhone, and also launched access to Google Plus from other mobile phones.

Bethel Finances: Teva completes $934m Taiyo acquisition

www.bethelfinance.com

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) today completed its acquisition of Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry Co. Ltd. for $934 million in cash.

As with all of Teva's acquisitions, it expects Taiyo's results to positively accrue to its earnings per share within a year.

Taiyo is Japan's third largest generics manufacturer with $530 million in sales in 2010. Taiyo brings to Teva a portfolio of over 550 products and a strong presence in all major channels in the Japanese pharmaceutical market. Teva also gains access to Taiyo's strong R&D team, local regulatory expertise and a state of the art production facility. Teva expects that the acquisition will boost its sales in Japan to $1 billion, ahead of its original 2015 target.

Teva president and CEO Shlomo Yanai told "Globes", "This is an important milestone in executing Teva's long term strategic plan. The acquisition of Taiyo, along with Teva's existing Japanese business, assures that Teva will deliver on our strategic objective of becoming a leading player in Japan."

Teva's Japanese operations include a joint venture with Kowa Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Teva-Kowa Pharma Ltd., which acquired Taisho Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Teva recognizes only part of the venture's revenue, in line with its agreement with Kowa. Teva also has independent brand drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients operations in Japan.

Teva's acquisition of Taiyo is separate from Teva-Kowa Pharma. Yanai told "Globes" that Teva did not expect to make a write-down for goodwill on the acquisition. "The Japanese pharmaceuticals market is the world's second largest market after the US," said Yanai. "The US market amounts to $350 billion, and the Japanese market amounts to nearly $100 billion. However, 75% of the US market is generics, compared with 23% in Japan. This shows why we think that there's great potential in Japan."

Teva's share price rose 0.4% on Nasdaq yesterday to $49.23, giving a market cap of $46.3 billion, and rose 0.9% in early trading on the TASE today to NIS 171.50.

Bethel Finances: Shekel strengthens amid volatile global markets

www.bethelfinance.com

After several days of falls, the shekel is strengthening against the dollar and euro in morning inter-bank trading today, amid volatile global markets, over the debt crises in Europe. The shekel-dollar exchange rate fell 0.46% to NIS 3.449/$ and the shekel-euro exchange rate fell 0.24% to NIS 4.831/€.

In the foreign currency market yesterday, the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate was set up 0.90% to NIS 3.465/$ and the shekel-euro representative exchange rate was set up 0.15% to NIS 4.844/€.

In international markets, the dollar strengthened against the euro to $1.40/€, but weakened against the Japanese yen to ¥79.54/$.

Yesterday, Merrill Lynch warned that the debt crisis in Italy had repercussions beyond the eurozone. Bond yields for Italian and Spanish government bonds soared, and new concerns were raised about insolvency by Greece. Fears were briefly alleviated when Italy succeeded in raising €6.75 billion in new bonds, amid rumors that the European Central Bank was one of the buyers. Later, however, Moody's Rating Services downgraded Ireland's government from Baa3 to Ba1 - junk bond status - with a "Negative" outlook.

Bethel Finances: Solel Boneh doubles Nigerian road project to $420m

www.bethelfinance.com

Shikun u'Binui Holdings Ltd. (TASE: SKBN) unit Solel Boneh International Ltd. has signed an agreement with the Nigerian government expand the Eket-Port Harcourt expressway project in eastern Nigeria. The additional work adds $190 million to the original project, bringing the total project to $420 million.

Solel Boneh will widen and upgrade the road into an expressway and build a bridge over the Imo River. The project will be carried out through 2013.

Solel Boneh has a number of ongoing road contracts with the Nigerian government, including a four-year $290 million project widen and upgrade the 52-kilometer road between Ibadan and Ilorin in southwest Nigeria.

Bethel Finances: 15 Israeli start-ups join Bootcamp Ventures US tour

www.bethelfinance.com

15 digital media, IT, and mobile start-ups are participating in Bootcamp Ventures' Israel Innovation: Boston & New York Road Trip to meet potential investors and high-tech industrialists.

Bootcamp Ventures is a start-up advisory firm with offices in Tel Aviv, New York, and Istanbul. The road trip's objective is to provide a stage for start-ups to present their wards, and obtain advice, ideas, and proposals for investments and collaboration.

Bootcamp Ventures says that the 15 start-ups were chosen following interviews and meticulous screening of applicants to find the most promising companies at Israel's technology incubators. Each start-up will have a six-minute presentation before venture capitalists, followed by one-on-one meetings.

The 15 start-ups are:

• Active Insight Ltd., which is developing a SaaS product for customer acquisition optimization:
• AnyClip Ltd., which allows third-party sites to provide their users with movie content services;
• CallApp, a mobile application that turns a mobile network into a social network;
• Funtactix Ltd., a web-based gaming platform for social networks;
• Gamingo Ltd., a developer of fantasy and other sports entertainment games;
• Guerillapps, a vertical social gaming platform targeting lifestyle and health moms;
• MobileResearch Labs Ltd., a technology which can spot personal and public media exposure and preferences in real time;
• Roaste.com, an online coffee shop;
• Superfly, which collects and analyzes a user's travel patterns, offering ways to save money;
• TicTacTi Ltd., an in-game advertising platform;
• Tracx, which maps big social data to identify untapped audiences in real time for marketers;
• Visual Bee Ltd., an automatic graphic designer for PowerPoint presentations using artificial intelligence;
• XyDex Technologies Ltd., which develops business software and management tools for small and medium businesses and organizations;
• YellowBrck, a mobile app for parents.