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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Bethel Finance: Shekel strengthens before interest rate decision
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
The shekel strengthened against both the US dollar and the euro at the opening of trading this morning, in the last week of 2011. The market awaits the Bank of Israel's interest rate decision later today. The shekel-dollar rate is 0.24% lower than Fiday's representative rate, at NIS 3.7740/$, while the shekel euro rate is very slightly lower, by 0.09%, at NIS 4.9410/€.
On world markets, the euro is 0.1% stronger against the dollar, at $1.305/€; sterling is 0.2% stronger, at $1.5615/£; while the yen is 0.2% stronger, at ¥77.988/$.
At 17:30 today, the Bank of Israel will announce its interest rate for January. Bloomberg's survey of analysts finds that most believe that the central bank will lower the rate by 0.25% for the second successive month; a minority estimates that the rate will be left unchanged at 2.75%.
The Bank of Israel projects a slowdown in the growth rate of the Israeli economy in 2012, to 3.2%, compared with over 4% in 2011. Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer has said recently that the bank will probably lower the 2012 growth forecast to 2.9%.
Bethel Finance news:
The shekel strengthened against both the US dollar and the euro at the opening of trading this morning, in the last week of 2011. The market awaits the Bank of Israel's interest rate decision later today. The shekel-dollar rate is 0.24% lower than Fiday's representative rate, at NIS 3.7740/$, while the shekel euro rate is very slightly lower, by 0.09%, at NIS 4.9410/€.
On world markets, the euro is 0.1% stronger against the dollar, at $1.305/€; sterling is 0.2% stronger, at $1.5615/£; while the yen is 0.2% stronger, at ¥77.988/$.
At 17:30 today, the Bank of Israel will announce its interest rate for January. Bloomberg's survey of analysts finds that most believe that the central bank will lower the rate by 0.25% for the second successive month; a minority estimates that the rate will be left unchanged at 2.75%.
The Bank of Israel projects a slowdown in the growth rate of the Israeli economy in 2012, to 3.2%, compared with over 4% in 2011. Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer has said recently that the bank will probably lower the 2012 growth forecast to 2.9%.
Bethel Finance: Leumi Partners mulls selling Partner shares
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Leumi Partners Ltd., the investment arm of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI), is also considering the sale of its shares in Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR), if Ilan Ben Dov-controlled Scailex Corporation (TASE: SCIX; Pink Sheets:SCIXF) finds a buyer for the block of shares that it is offering. Leumi Partners owns 5% of Partner.
In yesterday's notice to the TASE, Scailex said that it was considering the sale of part of its 44.54% stake in Partner "at a substantially higher price than the market price". The announcement came after Partner's share price fell 50% this year, and two months after "Globes" was the first to report that Ben Dov wants to sell 15% of Partner to a foreign investor.
Scailex said it decided to seek a buyer for part of its Partner shares because of the interest shown by foreign private equity funds. The announcement was influenced by France Telecom SA's (Euronext: FTE; NYSE: FT) sale of Orange Switzerland to Apax Partners. Scailex and Leumi Partners apparently liked the price of that deal and the multiples at which it was made, and concluded that private equity funds are seeking sound investments in the mobile market. This provides sufficient incentive for the sale of Partner shares.
France Telecom announced the sale of Orange Switzerland on Friday for €1.6 billion ($2.1 billion), reflecting a multiple of 6.5 on the latter's projected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for 2011. This is higher than the average 5.6 EBITDA of Western European mobile carriers for the past three years.
A capital market source told "Globes" that the pricing of the Orange Switzerland sale reflects a share price of NIS 85 for Partner - 156% above its current price.
One of the private equity funds interested in Scailex's Partner shares is TPG Capital LP (formerly Texas Pacific Group), which manages tens of billions of dollars. Its wide-ranging investments include retail, telecommunications, and financial services.
Partner's share price rose 5% in morning trading on the TASE today to NIS 34.56, after remaining unchanged on Nasdaq on Friday at $8.63, giving a market cap of $1.34 billion. Scailex's share price rose 5.3% on the TASE to NIS 16.81, giving a market cap of NIS 446 million.
Bethel Finance news:
Leumi Partners Ltd., the investment arm of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI), is also considering the sale of its shares in Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR), if Ilan Ben Dov-controlled Scailex Corporation (TASE: SCIX; Pink Sheets:SCIXF) finds a buyer for the block of shares that it is offering. Leumi Partners owns 5% of Partner.
In yesterday's notice to the TASE, Scailex said that it was considering the sale of part of its 44.54% stake in Partner "at a substantially higher price than the market price". The announcement came after Partner's share price fell 50% this year, and two months after "Globes" was the first to report that Ben Dov wants to sell 15% of Partner to a foreign investor.
Scailex said it decided to seek a buyer for part of its Partner shares because of the interest shown by foreign private equity funds. The announcement was influenced by France Telecom SA's (Euronext: FTE; NYSE: FT) sale of Orange Switzerland to Apax Partners. Scailex and Leumi Partners apparently liked the price of that deal and the multiples at which it was made, and concluded that private equity funds are seeking sound investments in the mobile market. This provides sufficient incentive for the sale of Partner shares.
France Telecom announced the sale of Orange Switzerland on Friday for €1.6 billion ($2.1 billion), reflecting a multiple of 6.5 on the latter's projected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for 2011. This is higher than the average 5.6 EBITDA of Western European mobile carriers for the past three years.
A capital market source told "Globes" that the pricing of the Orange Switzerland sale reflects a share price of NIS 85 for Partner - 156% above its current price.
One of the private equity funds interested in Scailex's Partner shares is TPG Capital LP (formerly Texas Pacific Group), which manages tens of billions of dollars. Its wide-ranging investments include retail, telecommunications, and financial services.
Partner's share price rose 5% in morning trading on the TASE today to NIS 34.56, after remaining unchanged on Nasdaq on Friday at $8.63, giving a market cap of $1.34 billion. Scailex's share price rose 5.3% on the TASE to NIS 16.81, giving a market cap of NIS 446 million.
Bethel Finance: Tamares laying third Israel-Cyprus cable
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Tamares Telecom Ltd. is laying a third undersea cable between Israel and Cyprus. Despite doubts about its intentions, it is laying the cable at an investment of tens of millions of shekels.
Even as the company expects the Ministry of Communications to grant it various protections, the fact is that another undersea cable will link Israel with the world, which should greatly increase competition and the telecommunications market.
Now that Israel will have three undersea cables, the most important question needs to be asked: will prices for international connections go down, and how much will consumer internet prices fall? If the profits mostly stay with the communications companies, we will have done nothing.
Bethel Finance news:
Tamares Telecom Ltd. is laying a third undersea cable between Israel and Cyprus. Despite doubts about its intentions, it is laying the cable at an investment of tens of millions of shekels.
Even as the company expects the Ministry of Communications to grant it various protections, the fact is that another undersea cable will link Israel with the world, which should greatly increase competition and the telecommunications market.
Now that Israel will have three undersea cables, the most important question needs to be asked: will prices for international connections go down, and how much will consumer internet prices fall? If the profits mostly stay with the communications companies, we will have done nothing.
Bethel Finance:New laws make the customer even more right
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
The small print: Regulations on the font size of restrictions and reservations in ads and consumer information, such as catalogues, have finally been passed and will come into effect on January 1, 2012. The regulations stipulate that the font size must be at least 30% of the largest font in the announcement, and no smaller than 2 mm.
Cancellation of transactions - for flights too: A few months after regulations came into effect on the cancellation of transactions, they are joined by the option of cancelling airline tickets. However, it is not possible to cancel full service packages for foreign holidays, such as hotels. The regulations apply to purchases made in person; the regulations on reservations made by phone or online, which allow cancellation within two weeks, were left unchanged.
Choose when you pay: An amendment to the Consumer Protection Law (5741-1981) allows consumers to choose one of four dates for the monthly payment on their credit cards and standing bank orders. The amendment comes into effect on January 1, 2012.
Payment of monthly bills without commission: Another amendment to the Consumer Protection Law that will also come into effect on January 1 allows customers of government supervised companies, such as Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) and the gas companies, to pay their monthly bill in cash without a commission. The amendment aims to correct the current situation in which some goods and services providers require customers to use only one method of payment, such as credit card or bank standing order, and sometimes even charge a fee for the service.
Warranty sticker: In June 2012, an amendment will come into effect mandating the placement of warranty labels on products, in addition to the regular certificate, to ensure that service will be provided during the warranty period, even if the certificate is lost. The label will state the warranty period, and cannot be switched between products.
Telecommunications
In telecommunications, 2011 was a big year for consumers. A number of consistent measures became practice, changing consumers' status, especially for mobile services. Ministry of Communications figures show that the consumer has woken up. More than 234,000 subscribers switched carriers during the third quarter, up from the quarterly average of 100,000 in recent years. The ministry views the 134% increase in the churn rate as a clear sign that competition has increased and that power is moving toward the customer.
Mobile carriers' average revenue per user (ARPU) fell 20% from NIS 135 per month to NIS 110. The current average cost of a call is NIS 0.35 per minute. Large business customers (such as government employees who pay NIS 0.07 per minute for calls) have the greatest power, with private customers paying the difference. The Ministry of Communications believes that the entry of new carriers into the market will cut the average cost of a call to NIS 0.20 per minute.
16 consumer failures by carriers were handled during 2011. Within a month, the Ministry of Communications will probably publish a hearing for the handling of other consumer failures. Below are the main things that were changed during the past year:
* Connectivity fees cut: In January 2011, after a long debate, inter-network connectivity fees were slashed from NIS 0.25 to NIS 0.07.
* Termination fines cancelled: A formula was finally found for early termination fines. The new rules initially applied to mobile carriers, and were later expanded to cover Internet, telephony, and cable and satellite television services.
* Linkage cancelled: Mobile carriers were also required to offer the same air-time benefits and handset subsidies to customers who bought their handsets elsewhere.
* Commitment period: The commitment period required by mobile carriers and cable and satellite TV providers has been halved from 36 months to 18 months. Companies are banned from raising rates during the commitment period.
* Content services: One of the important changes, which aims to corral the serious problem of charges for mobile content services, requires mobile carriers to obtain customers' prior consent for the provision of any service, including content services.
Pending legislation
The following is a selection from among many bills in the area of consumer protection now in various stages of the legislative process:
The contractor will compensate: An amendment to the Sale Law states that a contractor who delivers a home more than 60 days late will pay compensation from the first late day. Status: the Knesset plenum passed the amendment's second and third readings, and it has come into effect.
More cable and television channels: The "plus era" has expanded the number of channels available on DTT set-top boxes from five to eighteen, including all radio channels, the music channel (24), the Russian-language channel (9), the new Education Television (23), the Arabic channel, Jewish Heritage channel, News channel, and HD channel. Status: passed by the Ministry of Communications.
Fines for overcharging and refusing to terminate subscriptions: The Ministry of Communications wants to fine telecommunications providers 1% of their profits, on a scale, for damage to even one customer. Violations include overcharging, delayed refunds, refusal to terminate a subscription, and making changes without the customer's knowledge.
Stricter enforcement: An amendment for stricter enforcement of consumer protection laws through financial sanctions and other means. Status: the Knesset plenum passed the amendment in its first reading, and it is now in the Economic Affairs Committee to be readied for its second and third plenum readings.
Compensation for cancelled flights: A bill setting the terms and conditions for a passenger's eligibility for compensation for the cancellation or delay of a flight, or for not being allowed to board. Compensation includes free assistance, refund of expenses, an alternative ticket, and financial compensation (MK Ahmed Tibi (Raam-Taal)). Status: the Knesset plenum passed the bill in its first reading.
Restrictions on benefit programs: A bill to prevent the loss of a consumer's remaining benefits if the operator of the benefits plan fails to notify the consumer properly about the expiry of the plan, or fails to provide him or her sufficient time to use the benefits, or offers only a limited range of goods (MY Eitan Cabel (Labor)). Status: the Knesset plenum passed the bill in its pre-reading.
Clarity from banks: Banks will be required to provide customers with information clarifying in layman's terms the main significance and consequences caused by a demand for the immediate repayment of a loan, and the reasons for the demand (MK Uri Maklev (United Torah Judaism)). Status: the Knesset plenum passed the bill in its pre-reading.
School textbooks: Prices for schoolbooks and the publication of new editions will be supervised by the minister of education. New editions will only be approved if there has been a change in the curriculum (MK Uri Yehuda Ariel (National Union)). Status: the Knesset plenum passed the bill in its pre-reading.
Restrictions on advertising alcohol: Ads will only provide basic details and will be accompanied by a warning, "Excessive alcohol consumption is life-threatening and harmful to the health." Television and radio shows for children will not air ads for intoxicating beverages. Status: the bill has been readied for its second and third readings by the Knesset plenum.
Filtering Internet content: Internet providers must provide filters against offensive content for free to anyone who requests them (MK Alex Miller (Israel Beiteinu)). Status: the Economic Affairs Committee has approved the bill for its second and third readings by the Knesset plenum.
Home renovations: A bill requiring the licensing of home repairmen (MK Ofir Akunis (Likud)). Status: tabled at the Knesset.
Snacks at checkouts: A bill banning retailers from placing snacks at checkout counters. (MK Danny Danon (Likud)). Status: tabled at the Knesset.
Bank fees: A bill exempting current bank accounts with a positive balance from paying fees, and cancellation of the minimum fee (the Consumer Protection Council and several MKs). Status: tabled at the Knesset.
Bethel Finance news:
The small print: Regulations on the font size of restrictions and reservations in ads and consumer information, such as catalogues, have finally been passed and will come into effect on January 1, 2012. The regulations stipulate that the font size must be at least 30% of the largest font in the announcement, and no smaller than 2 mm.
Cancellation of transactions - for flights too: A few months after regulations came into effect on the cancellation of transactions, they are joined by the option of cancelling airline tickets. However, it is not possible to cancel full service packages for foreign holidays, such as hotels. The regulations apply to purchases made in person; the regulations on reservations made by phone or online, which allow cancellation within two weeks, were left unchanged.
Choose when you pay: An amendment to the Consumer Protection Law (5741-1981) allows consumers to choose one of four dates for the monthly payment on their credit cards and standing bank orders. The amendment comes into effect on January 1, 2012.
Payment of monthly bills without commission: Another amendment to the Consumer Protection Law that will also come into effect on January 1 allows customers of government supervised companies, such as Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) and the gas companies, to pay their monthly bill in cash without a commission. The amendment aims to correct the current situation in which some goods and services providers require customers to use only one method of payment, such as credit card or bank standing order, and sometimes even charge a fee for the service.
Warranty sticker: In June 2012, an amendment will come into effect mandating the placement of warranty labels on products, in addition to the regular certificate, to ensure that service will be provided during the warranty period, even if the certificate is lost. The label will state the warranty period, and cannot be switched between products.
Telecommunications
In telecommunications, 2011 was a big year for consumers. A number of consistent measures became practice, changing consumers' status, especially for mobile services. Ministry of Communications figures show that the consumer has woken up. More than 234,000 subscribers switched carriers during the third quarter, up from the quarterly average of 100,000 in recent years. The ministry views the 134% increase in the churn rate as a clear sign that competition has increased and that power is moving toward the customer.
Mobile carriers' average revenue per user (ARPU) fell 20% from NIS 135 per month to NIS 110. The current average cost of a call is NIS 0.35 per minute. Large business customers (such as government employees who pay NIS 0.07 per minute for calls) have the greatest power, with private customers paying the difference. The Ministry of Communications believes that the entry of new carriers into the market will cut the average cost of a call to NIS 0.20 per minute.
16 consumer failures by carriers were handled during 2011. Within a month, the Ministry of Communications will probably publish a hearing for the handling of other consumer failures. Below are the main things that were changed during the past year:
* Connectivity fees cut: In January 2011, after a long debate, inter-network connectivity fees were slashed from NIS 0.25 to NIS 0.07.
* Termination fines cancelled: A formula was finally found for early termination fines. The new rules initially applied to mobile carriers, and were later expanded to cover Internet, telephony, and cable and satellite television services.
* Linkage cancelled: Mobile carriers were also required to offer the same air-time benefits and handset subsidies to customers who bought their handsets elsewhere.
* Commitment period: The commitment period required by mobile carriers and cable and satellite TV providers has been halved from 36 months to 18 months. Companies are banned from raising rates during the commitment period.
* Content services: One of the important changes, which aims to corral the serious problem of charges for mobile content services, requires mobile carriers to obtain customers' prior consent for the provision of any service, including content services.
Pending legislation
The following is a selection from among many bills in the area of consumer protection now in various stages of the legislative process:
The contractor will compensate: An amendment to the Sale Law states that a contractor who delivers a home more than 60 days late will pay compensation from the first late day. Status: the Knesset plenum passed the amendment's second and third readings, and it has come into effect.
More cable and television channels: The "plus era" has expanded the number of channels available on DTT set-top boxes from five to eighteen, including all radio channels, the music channel (24), the Russian-language channel (9), the new Education Television (23), the Arabic channel, Jewish Heritage channel, News channel, and HD channel. Status: passed by the Ministry of Communications.
Fines for overcharging and refusing to terminate subscriptions: The Ministry of Communications wants to fine telecommunications providers 1% of their profits, on a scale, for damage to even one customer. Violations include overcharging, delayed refunds, refusal to terminate a subscription, and making changes without the customer's knowledge.
Stricter enforcement: An amendment for stricter enforcement of consumer protection laws through financial sanctions and other means. Status: the Knesset plenum passed the amendment in its first reading, and it is now in the Economic Affairs Committee to be readied for its second and third plenum readings.
Compensation for cancelled flights: A bill setting the terms and conditions for a passenger's eligibility for compensation for the cancellation or delay of a flight, or for not being allowed to board. Compensation includes free assistance, refund of expenses, an alternative ticket, and financial compensation (MK Ahmed Tibi (Raam-Taal)). Status: the Knesset plenum passed the bill in its first reading.
Restrictions on benefit programs: A bill to prevent the loss of a consumer's remaining benefits if the operator of the benefits plan fails to notify the consumer properly about the expiry of the plan, or fails to provide him or her sufficient time to use the benefits, or offers only a limited range of goods (MY Eitan Cabel (Labor)). Status: the Knesset plenum passed the bill in its pre-reading.
Clarity from banks: Banks will be required to provide customers with information clarifying in layman's terms the main significance and consequences caused by a demand for the immediate repayment of a loan, and the reasons for the demand (MK Uri Maklev (United Torah Judaism)). Status: the Knesset plenum passed the bill in its pre-reading.
School textbooks: Prices for schoolbooks and the publication of new editions will be supervised by the minister of education. New editions will only be approved if there has been a change in the curriculum (MK Uri Yehuda Ariel (National Union)). Status: the Knesset plenum passed the bill in its pre-reading.
Restrictions on advertising alcohol: Ads will only provide basic details and will be accompanied by a warning, "Excessive alcohol consumption is life-threatening and harmful to the health." Television and radio shows for children will not air ads for intoxicating beverages. Status: the bill has been readied for its second and third readings by the Knesset plenum.
Filtering Internet content: Internet providers must provide filters against offensive content for free to anyone who requests them (MK Alex Miller (Israel Beiteinu)). Status: the Economic Affairs Committee has approved the bill for its second and third readings by the Knesset plenum.
Home renovations: A bill requiring the licensing of home repairmen (MK Ofir Akunis (Likud)). Status: tabled at the Knesset.
Snacks at checkouts: A bill banning retailers from placing snacks at checkout counters. (MK Danny Danon (Likud)). Status: tabled at the Knesset.
Bank fees: A bill exempting current bank accounts with a positive balance from paying fees, and cancellation of the minimum fee (the Consumer Protection Council and several MKs). Status: tabled at the Knesset.
Bethel Finance: Bank of Israel leaves interest rate unchanged
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
The Bank of Israel has left its key lending rate unchanged for January 2012 at 2.75%. The decision is a surprise, as most analysts had expected a second consecutive 0.25% cut in the rate.
The Bank of Israel said in its announcement, "The decision to leave the interest rate unchanged at 2.75% for January 2012 following the cut in the rate last month is consistent with the interest rate policy that is intended to entrench the inflation rate within the price stability target of 13% inflation a year over the next twelve months, and to support growth while maintaining financial stability.
"The path of the interest rate in the future depends on developments in the inflation environment, growth in Israel, the global economy, the monetary policies of major central banks, and developments in the exchange rate of the shekel."
Bethel Finance news:
The Bank of Israel has left its key lending rate unchanged for January 2012 at 2.75%. The decision is a surprise, as most analysts had expected a second consecutive 0.25% cut in the rate.
The Bank of Israel said in its announcement, "The decision to leave the interest rate unchanged at 2.75% for January 2012 following the cut in the rate last month is consistent with the interest rate policy that is intended to entrench the inflation rate within the price stability target of 13% inflation a year over the next twelve months, and to support growth while maintaining financial stability.
"The path of the interest rate in the future depends on developments in the inflation environment, growth in Israel, the global economy, the monetary policies of major central banks, and developments in the exchange rate of the shekel."
Bethel Finance: Modiin shareholder buys into Israel Opportunity
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Modiin Energy LP (TASE:MDIN.L) controlling shareholder Tzahi Sultan has acquired a 5.09% stake in Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP (TASE: ISOP.L), becoming a party at interest. Sultan excised options, which he held through his private company Du-Tzach Ltd., for 14 million Israel Opportunity participation units at NIS 0.196 per unit, for a total of NIS 2.74 million.
Sultan owns 2% of Modiin Energy, which has stakes in Sarah, Myra, Gabriella, Yam Hadera, and other offshore gas exploration licenses. Israel Opportunity's main holding is 10% of the former Pelagic licenses, located 170 west of Haifa, between Leviathan and Block 12 in Cypriot waters.
Sultan now owns 28,142,557 Israel Opportunity participation units, as well as 21 million options. His stake is current worth NIS 5 million.
Israel Opportunity's participation units' price rose 1% by midday today to NIS 0.209, giving a market cap of NIS 114 million.
Bethel Finance news:
Modiin Energy LP (TASE:MDIN.L) controlling shareholder Tzahi Sultan has acquired a 5.09% stake in Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP (TASE: ISOP.L), becoming a party at interest. Sultan excised options, which he held through his private company Du-Tzach Ltd., for 14 million Israel Opportunity participation units at NIS 0.196 per unit, for a total of NIS 2.74 million.
Sultan owns 2% of Modiin Energy, which has stakes in Sarah, Myra, Gabriella, Yam Hadera, and other offshore gas exploration licenses. Israel Opportunity's main holding is 10% of the former Pelagic licenses, located 170 west of Haifa, between Leviathan and Block 12 in Cypriot waters.
Sultan now owns 28,142,557 Israel Opportunity participation units, as well as 21 million options. His stake is current worth NIS 5 million.
Israel Opportunity's participation units' price rose 1% by midday today to NIS 0.209, giving a market cap of NIS 114 million.
Bethel Finance: 12 clean water startups to watch in 2012
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Like most journalists with broadly defined beats, my personal bias shows up in the coverage choices that I make. So, even though I know pretty much any storage about electric vehicles that decide to post here will drive a gratifying increase in readership, my green-tech interests in the waning days of 2011 are focused on other fundamental matters. In particular, I’ve been thinking a lot about which developments in green water technology I should be following during the next 12 months.
After sifting through a number of resources, I’ve come up with this list of start-up or early stage companies that I’ll be watching as closely as possible. All of the companies on this particular to-watch list are focused on technologies for treating wasterwater, and all of them have been part of various cleantech innovation competitions this fall. I’ve organized the list alphabetically and offered my brief rationale for planning to watch each company.
1. APTWater (Long Beach, Calif.): Treats wastewater with an eye toward enabling reuse. The company merged with Europe’s Rochem in November 2011 and boasts several municipal deals on its Web site.
2. aquaMost (Madison, Wis.): Uses ultraviolet light and patented catalysts to purify water. In late November 2011, the company snagged $3 million in a second round of venture capital; it was also awarded a $1 million phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Institutes of Health.
3. Aqwise (Israel): Develops biofilm technologies to remove nutrients, carbon and other substances. Has municipal pilot history in the United States and Spain.
4. Arbsource (Tempe, Ariz.): Makes a reactor system designed to be used by food and manufacturing companies.
5. Emefcy (Israel): Creates energy-efficient water treatment technology by using sewage-eating bacteria. In August 2011, the company snagged about $10 million in venture funding from GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips.
6. Fogbusters (Oakland, Calif.): Takes the FOG (fats, oil, grease) out of wastewater. Customers included Cadbury and United Biscuits.
7. Magpie Polymers (France): The spinoff from Ecole Polytechnique focuses on treating heavily contaminated industrial wasterwater.
8. Nexus eWater (Australia): Bills itself as maker of technology that can recycle graywater to a near potable condition, while also offering an alternative for reducing hot water energy costs. The company snagged two Australian grants in August 2011.
9. Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies (Vancouver): Removes nutrients from wastewater and converts that into fertilizer than can be used by a revenue source. The venture capital-backed company has three recovery facilities in the United States and recently authorized one for Saskatoon, Canada.
10. Pasteurization Technology Group (San Leandro, Calif.): Develops a wastewater disinfection system that creates renewable energy as its works. The company says it is poised to commence commercial shipments of its flagship product during 2012.
11. Puralytics (Beaverton, Ore.): Uses nanotechnology, optics and light to purifying water.
12. Vorsana (Portland, Ore.): Employs the concept of “radial counterflow” to create more efficients systems for water treatment, as well as separating flue gasses.
Bethel Finance news:
Like most journalists with broadly defined beats, my personal bias shows up in the coverage choices that I make. So, even though I know pretty much any storage about electric vehicles that decide to post here will drive a gratifying increase in readership, my green-tech interests in the waning days of 2011 are focused on other fundamental matters. In particular, I’ve been thinking a lot about which developments in green water technology I should be following during the next 12 months.
After sifting through a number of resources, I’ve come up with this list of start-up or early stage companies that I’ll be watching as closely as possible. All of the companies on this particular to-watch list are focused on technologies for treating wasterwater, and all of them have been part of various cleantech innovation competitions this fall. I’ve organized the list alphabetically and offered my brief rationale for planning to watch each company.
1. APTWater (Long Beach, Calif.): Treats wastewater with an eye toward enabling reuse. The company merged with Europe’s Rochem in November 2011 and boasts several municipal deals on its Web site.
2. aquaMost (Madison, Wis.): Uses ultraviolet light and patented catalysts to purify water. In late November 2011, the company snagged $3 million in a second round of venture capital; it was also awarded a $1 million phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Institutes of Health.
3. Aqwise (Israel): Develops biofilm technologies to remove nutrients, carbon and other substances. Has municipal pilot history in the United States and Spain.
4. Arbsource (Tempe, Ariz.): Makes a reactor system designed to be used by food and manufacturing companies.
5. Emefcy (Israel): Creates energy-efficient water treatment technology by using sewage-eating bacteria. In August 2011, the company snagged about $10 million in venture funding from GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips.
6. Fogbusters (Oakland, Calif.): Takes the FOG (fats, oil, grease) out of wastewater. Customers included Cadbury and United Biscuits.
7. Magpie Polymers (France): The spinoff from Ecole Polytechnique focuses on treating heavily contaminated industrial wasterwater.
8. Nexus eWater (Australia): Bills itself as maker of technology that can recycle graywater to a near potable condition, while also offering an alternative for reducing hot water energy costs. The company snagged two Australian grants in August 2011.
9. Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies (Vancouver): Removes nutrients from wastewater and converts that into fertilizer than can be used by a revenue source. The venture capital-backed company has three recovery facilities in the United States and recently authorized one for Saskatoon, Canada.
10. Pasteurization Technology Group (San Leandro, Calif.): Develops a wastewater disinfection system that creates renewable energy as its works. The company says it is poised to commence commercial shipments of its flagship product during 2012.
11. Puralytics (Beaverton, Ore.): Uses nanotechnology, optics and light to purifying water.
12. Vorsana (Portland, Ore.): Employs the concept of “radial counterflow” to create more efficients systems for water treatment, as well as separating flue gasses.
Bethel Finance: Ex-Aide to Ron Paul Makes Stunning Claims About Old Boss
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Eric Dondero, who worked for Ron Paul on and off for a total of 12 years dating back to 1987, released a jaw-dropping statement in Right Wing News Monday in regards to his old boss. It appears Dondero wrote the statement to answer questions presented to him of late by various media outlets in regards to controversial newsletters connected to the congressman that have consumed his campaign for President. While attempting to defend Paul as not being a “racist” or “homophobic,” as many have accused him of being given the hateful language in the newsletters, Dondero “sets the record straight” by making shocking claims about the beliefs and behind-closed-doors statements of the man vying to be Commander in Chief. The Paul campaign has already reacted to Dondero’s claims, labeling him as a disgruntled ex-employee. Nonetheless, the allegations are astounding.
Dondero begins by strongly refuting claims that Paul is a “racist,” saying he never heard Paul make any racist comments in the 12 years he worked for the man, and makes clear that the congressman has frequently hired blacks and Hispanics for his office staff. However, Dondero makes “one caveat,“ stating that Paul is ”out of touch,” with both Hispanic and Black culture:
“He is completely clueless when it comes to Hispanic and Black culture, particularly Mexican-American culture. And he is most certainly intolerant of Spanish and those who speak strictly Spanish in his presence, (as are a number of Americans, nothing out of the ordinary here.)”
Dondero, who is half-Jewish himself, says Paul is not Anti-Semitic. He says Paul has no issue with Jewish-Americans and can “categorically” say that he has never heard anything Anti-Semitic, slurs or any sort of derogatory marks come out of Paul’s mouth. However, Dondero claims Paul is “most certainly Anti-Israel, and Anti-Israeli in general:”
Bethel Finance news:
Eric Dondero, who worked for Ron Paul on and off for a total of 12 years dating back to 1987, released a jaw-dropping statement in Right Wing News Monday in regards to his old boss. It appears Dondero wrote the statement to answer questions presented to him of late by various media outlets in regards to controversial newsletters connected to the congressman that have consumed his campaign for President. While attempting to defend Paul as not being a “racist” or “homophobic,” as many have accused him of being given the hateful language in the newsletters, Dondero “sets the record straight” by making shocking claims about the beliefs and behind-closed-doors statements of the man vying to be Commander in Chief. The Paul campaign has already reacted to Dondero’s claims, labeling him as a disgruntled ex-employee. Nonetheless, the allegations are astounding.
Dondero begins by strongly refuting claims that Paul is a “racist,” saying he never heard Paul make any racist comments in the 12 years he worked for the man, and makes clear that the congressman has frequently hired blacks and Hispanics for his office staff. However, Dondero makes “one caveat,“ stating that Paul is ”out of touch,” with both Hispanic and Black culture:
“He is completely clueless when it comes to Hispanic and Black culture, particularly Mexican-American culture. And he is most certainly intolerant of Spanish and those who speak strictly Spanish in his presence, (as are a number of Americans, nothing out of the ordinary here.)”
Dondero, who is half-Jewish himself, says Paul is not Anti-Semitic. He says Paul has no issue with Jewish-Americans and can “categorically” say that he has never heard anything Anti-Semitic, slurs or any sort of derogatory marks come out of Paul’s mouth. However, Dondero claims Paul is “most certainly Anti-Israel, and Anti-Israeli in general:”
Bethel Finance: Year gone by made Pharma industry uncomfortable
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
The pharmaceutical industry will remember 2011 as a year in which the government sought more to exercise more control over the business be it big ticket acquisitions of domestic firms by MNCs or price controls on drugs.
Amid these tussles with the government, domestic companies carried on with their business as usual.
While Ranbaxy heaved a sigh of relief after finally reaching an agreement with the US health regulator to remove a ban on the sale of drugs from certain Indian plants in the American market, Sun Pharma sought to consolidate its grip over Israeli firm Taro by proposing a complete takeover.
Furthermore, Lupin acquired I'rom Pharmaceutical Company in Japan as part of a global expansion drive.
Nevertheless, policy was the centre of the action during the year as far as the industry was concerned.
Alarmed over the trend of big Indian pharmaceutical firms being acquired by MNCs, which could have an apparent implication on drug prices, the government decided that it was high time some control mechanism was put in place.
After deliberations and debate with stakeholders, the government introduced checks by doing away with automatic approval of foreign direct investment (FDI) in existing domestic pharmaceutical companies.
According to the new guidelines, for any merger or acquisition, overseas investors will now have to seek permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
After six months of such a proposal being approved, monopoly watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) will vet such deals.
The decision followed a directive from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who, along with his senior Cabinet colleagues, had deliberated over concerns arising out of several acquisitions of domestic pharma firms by overseas firms.
The decision was influenced by acquisitions of Indian firms, including that of Ranbaxy Laboratories by Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, Shanta Biotech by Sanofi Aventis of France and more recently the domestic formulations business of Piramal Healthcare by US-based Abbott Laboratories.
The government feared that a monopoly by MNCs will have an impact on the availability of affordable drugs in India.
However, in the case of greenfield investments, 100 per cent FDI will be allowed under the automatic route, under which investors only inform the Reserve Bank about the inflows and no specific government nod is required.
With access to good quality medicines at affordable prices high on the agenda of the government, 2011 also saw the circulation of the draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP), 2011.
As the proposed National Pharmaceutical Policy, 2006, failed to see the light of the day, the new NPPP-2011 sought to bring 60 per cent of the total domestic pharmaceutical market, amounting to nearly Rs 29,000 crore, under price control.
According to the proposed draft policy, all 348 drugs specified in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2011, will come under price control.
It was a move that did not go down well with industry bodies. Pharma industry bodies like the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) and Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) have raised concerns over the policy.
According to the IPA, pharmaceutical companies may suffer a sales loss of Rs 3,000 crore if the government's span of control increases, as proposed in the new pricing policy.
In a memorandum to the Department of Pharmaceuticals, IPA said the move to add 1,154 drugs and 6,441 formulations to the control list would amount to raising the ambit of government control to 75 per cent, against 60 per cent of the retail market, as indicated in the NPPP.
Reacting to the industry body's concerns, the government shot back asking the pharmaceutical industry not to "grumble" over the proposed drug pricing policy, saying affordability and accessibility of medicines should be the first consideration and many other industrial sectors were under control.
Amid this raging debate, Ranbaxy finally came out of the woods, as the company reached an agreement with the US health regulator to lift a ban on import of drugs from certain factories in India, a move which could see the drug-maker pay up to $500 million as a fine to the American authorities.
As an immediate after-effect of the intended payout of $500 million, the firm's parent, Daiichi Sankyo, downgraded its earnings forecast and imposed salary cuts on its directors.
The Gurgaon-based firm "signed a consent decree" with the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), which requires it to make provisions of $500 million to resolve all potential civil and criminal liability related to the sale of sub-standard drugs in the USA.
In 2008, the USFDA had banned 30 generic drugs produced by Ranbaxy at its Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Paonta Sahib and Batamandi unit in Himachal Pradesh, citing gross violation of approved manufacturing norms.
In the same year, the US Department of Justice had moved a motion against the company in a local court alleging forgery of documents and fraudulent practice.
Earlier, the USFDA had allowed Ranbaxy to launch a generic version of cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor in the US market under the condition that it was manufactured at the plant of its US-based wholly-owned subsidiary, Ohm Laboratories.
Getting the nod to sell generic Lipitor was of immense importance to Ranbaxy as the Gurgaon-based firm had exclusive rights to the off-patent version of Lipitor for 180 days.
According to analysts, the approval could help the company rake in around $400 million in the six-month exclusivity period.
On the merger and acquisition front, Sun Pharma made a proposal to fully acquire all outstanding shares of Israel's Taro Pharmaceuticals for $367.5 million (over Rs 1,810 crore) during the year.
Sun Pharma, which holds a 66.5 per cent stake in Taro, had proposed to acquire the 15 million outstanding shares at a price of $24.50 per share.
Zydus Cadila also strengthened its domestic operations with the acquisition of Mumbai-based Biochem.
Meanwhile, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals mutually terminated their Rs 137.5 crore deal.
As per the agreement, the Hyderabad-based firm had agreed to acquire pharmaceutical prescription portfolio of JB Chemicals in Russia and other CIS countries.
The year also witnessed some momentum on the pharmaceutical education front, with the Department of Pharmaceuticals announcing that it envisaged an investment of Rs 3,000 crore to set up ten more National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) over the next five years to enhance the availability of skilled human resources in the pharma sector.
The proposal to set up ten additional NIPERs is one of the many proposals, worth Rs 12,280 crore, that have been submitted to the Planning Commission by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) for inclusion in the 12th Five-Year Plan.
Bethel Finance news:
The pharmaceutical industry will remember 2011 as a year in which the government sought more to exercise more control over the business be it big ticket acquisitions of domestic firms by MNCs or price controls on drugs.
Amid these tussles with the government, domestic companies carried on with their business as usual.
While Ranbaxy heaved a sigh of relief after finally reaching an agreement with the US health regulator to remove a ban on the sale of drugs from certain Indian plants in the American market, Sun Pharma sought to consolidate its grip over Israeli firm Taro by proposing a complete takeover.
Furthermore, Lupin acquired I'rom Pharmaceutical Company in Japan as part of a global expansion drive.
Nevertheless, policy was the centre of the action during the year as far as the industry was concerned.
Alarmed over the trend of big Indian pharmaceutical firms being acquired by MNCs, which could have an apparent implication on drug prices, the government decided that it was high time some control mechanism was put in place.
After deliberations and debate with stakeholders, the government introduced checks by doing away with automatic approval of foreign direct investment (FDI) in existing domestic pharmaceutical companies.
According to the new guidelines, for any merger or acquisition, overseas investors will now have to seek permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
After six months of such a proposal being approved, monopoly watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) will vet such deals.
The decision followed a directive from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who, along with his senior Cabinet colleagues, had deliberated over concerns arising out of several acquisitions of domestic pharma firms by overseas firms.
The decision was influenced by acquisitions of Indian firms, including that of Ranbaxy Laboratories by Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, Shanta Biotech by Sanofi Aventis of France and more recently the domestic formulations business of Piramal Healthcare by US-based Abbott Laboratories.
The government feared that a monopoly by MNCs will have an impact on the availability of affordable drugs in India.
However, in the case of greenfield investments, 100 per cent FDI will be allowed under the automatic route, under which investors only inform the Reserve Bank about the inflows and no specific government nod is required.
With access to good quality medicines at affordable prices high on the agenda of the government, 2011 also saw the circulation of the draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP), 2011.
As the proposed National Pharmaceutical Policy, 2006, failed to see the light of the day, the new NPPP-2011 sought to bring 60 per cent of the total domestic pharmaceutical market, amounting to nearly Rs 29,000 crore, under price control.
According to the proposed draft policy, all 348 drugs specified in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2011, will come under price control.
It was a move that did not go down well with industry bodies. Pharma industry bodies like the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) and Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) have raised concerns over the policy.
According to the IPA, pharmaceutical companies may suffer a sales loss of Rs 3,000 crore if the government's span of control increases, as proposed in the new pricing policy.
In a memorandum to the Department of Pharmaceuticals, IPA said the move to add 1,154 drugs and 6,441 formulations to the control list would amount to raising the ambit of government control to 75 per cent, against 60 per cent of the retail market, as indicated in the NPPP.
Reacting to the industry body's concerns, the government shot back asking the pharmaceutical industry not to "grumble" over the proposed drug pricing policy, saying affordability and accessibility of medicines should be the first consideration and many other industrial sectors were under control.
Amid this raging debate, Ranbaxy finally came out of the woods, as the company reached an agreement with the US health regulator to lift a ban on import of drugs from certain factories in India, a move which could see the drug-maker pay up to $500 million as a fine to the American authorities.
As an immediate after-effect of the intended payout of $500 million, the firm's parent, Daiichi Sankyo, downgraded its earnings forecast and imposed salary cuts on its directors.
The Gurgaon-based firm "signed a consent decree" with the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), which requires it to make provisions of $500 million to resolve all potential civil and criminal liability related to the sale of sub-standard drugs in the USA.
In 2008, the USFDA had banned 30 generic drugs produced by Ranbaxy at its Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Paonta Sahib and Batamandi unit in Himachal Pradesh, citing gross violation of approved manufacturing norms.
In the same year, the US Department of Justice had moved a motion against the company in a local court alleging forgery of documents and fraudulent practice.
Earlier, the USFDA had allowed Ranbaxy to launch a generic version of cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor in the US market under the condition that it was manufactured at the plant of its US-based wholly-owned subsidiary, Ohm Laboratories.
Getting the nod to sell generic Lipitor was of immense importance to Ranbaxy as the Gurgaon-based firm had exclusive rights to the off-patent version of Lipitor for 180 days.
According to analysts, the approval could help the company rake in around $400 million in the six-month exclusivity period.
On the merger and acquisition front, Sun Pharma made a proposal to fully acquire all outstanding shares of Israel's Taro Pharmaceuticals for $367.5 million (over Rs 1,810 crore) during the year.
Sun Pharma, which holds a 66.5 per cent stake in Taro, had proposed to acquire the 15 million outstanding shares at a price of $24.50 per share.
Zydus Cadila also strengthened its domestic operations with the acquisition of Mumbai-based Biochem.
Meanwhile, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals mutually terminated their Rs 137.5 crore deal.
As per the agreement, the Hyderabad-based firm had agreed to acquire pharmaceutical prescription portfolio of JB Chemicals in Russia and other CIS countries.
The year also witnessed some momentum on the pharmaceutical education front, with the Department of Pharmaceuticals announcing that it envisaged an investment of Rs 3,000 crore to set up ten more National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) over the next five years to enhance the availability of skilled human resources in the pharma sector.
The proposal to set up ten additional NIPERs is one of the many proposals, worth Rs 12,280 crore, that have been submitted to the Planning Commission by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) for inclusion in the 12th Five-Year Plan.
Bethel Finance: Israel TV Station’s Troubles Reflect a Larger Political Battleground
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
An Israeli television station reported last spring on numerous trips Benjamin Netanyahu had taken as an elected official to Paris, London and New York before becoming prime minister in 2009. Accompanied by his wife, he flew first class and stayed in baronial hotel suites. Mrs. Netanyahu had her hair styled and her wardrobe dry-cleaned. The bills, displayed on screen, were paid for by wealthy friends.
Traveling in luxury at the expense of others may violate public service rules and the law. It also doesn’t look good. But instead of accolades for its journalism, Channel 10 is now fighting for its life, and Mr. Netanyahu’s hostility toward it is being cast as part of a broader cultural and political war in Israel between the left and the right involving efforts to control the judiciary, the reporting of news and public discourse.
It is a battle that most immediately pits the rightist governing coalition against the liberal elite as the government refuses to postpone the station’s debt, which could force it to close.
“The fight over Channel 10 is partly a matter of revenge — Netanyahu wants to make them pay for what they did to him,” argued Nachman Shai, a member of Parliament from the opposition party Kadima and a former news executive who helped set up Channel 10 a decade ago. “But it is also part of a three-front struggle — over the courts, civil society and the media. The right wants to control every institution. Freedom of expression is at risk.”
Those around Mr. Netanyahu, who filed a million-dollar libel suit against the station, say Channel 10 is a failed business whose payments have been forgiven numerous times and is hiding behind political complaints and inflated concerns about free speech to make the public absorb its debts.
On its face, the request by Channel 10 is modest. It owes $11 million, most of it to an official regulatory body, the rest in taxes. Ayelet Metzger, deputy director general of the regulatory body, said both her agency and the Finance Ministry had agreed to postpone the debt for a year.
But a parliamentary committee this month voted against doing so. Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition obliged its members to vote no. This means that Channel 10 will, in theory, shut its doors at the end of January, when its 10-year franchise ends.
In practice, there will be a drawn-out battle to save it because of the belief that it plays a vital role in public debate through its crusading investigative news broadcasts. The only other independent station is Channel 2, which is also facing economic woes.
Otherwise, Mr. Netanyahu has strong influence over other media outlets: the state-owned Channel 1, State Radio and a freely distributed and successful newspaper, Yisrael Hayom, owned by a close American friend, the billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
President Shimon Peres, a member of Kadima, has weighed in, saying that the channel’s effort to survive is “a struggle for Israel’s democratic character.” In a related comment, he also declared himself “ashamed” of several bills being considered in Parliament that he believes chip away at democracy in Israel: an antidefamation law, one that silences loudspeakers issuing the Muslim call to prayer and another that prevents foreign governments from financing left-wing Israeli groups.
Last summer, Parliament passed a law making it possible to sue anyone who advocates boycotting things Israeli, including West Bank settlements.
Channel 10 infuriated the Netanyahus over the reports of lavish travel, when he was a member of Parliament and as finance minister, and spurred a continuing investigation by the state comptroller. But the channel also angered previous leaders, playing a key role in exposing the way the 2006 Lebanon war was conducted and publicizing suspicions of corrupt land deals in the family of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
It brought to the screen the fate of a Palestinian doctor in Gaza whose three daughters were killed in the 2008-2009 offensive there by Israeli forces, and showed a minister from the nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu arriving at the home of a woman suspected to be his mistress and leaving the house the next morning.
“I believe that if we die, the message will be clear that if you have the guts to open a critical news company, you will go bankrupt,” said Raviv Drucker, the station’s chief investigative reporter, who broke the story of Mr. Netanyahu’s travels.
An executive of Channel 10 who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that he had been told by a top aide of Mr. Netanyahu that if Mr. Drucker were given a long vacation, postponing the debt would be a lot easier. Mr. Netanyahu’s office said no such conversation had occurred.
Bethel Finance news:
An Israeli television station reported last spring on numerous trips Benjamin Netanyahu had taken as an elected official to Paris, London and New York before becoming prime minister in 2009. Accompanied by his wife, he flew first class and stayed in baronial hotel suites. Mrs. Netanyahu had her hair styled and her wardrobe dry-cleaned. The bills, displayed on screen, were paid for by wealthy friends.
Traveling in luxury at the expense of others may violate public service rules and the law. It also doesn’t look good. But instead of accolades for its journalism, Channel 10 is now fighting for its life, and Mr. Netanyahu’s hostility toward it is being cast as part of a broader cultural and political war in Israel between the left and the right involving efforts to control the judiciary, the reporting of news and public discourse.
It is a battle that most immediately pits the rightist governing coalition against the liberal elite as the government refuses to postpone the station’s debt, which could force it to close.
“The fight over Channel 10 is partly a matter of revenge — Netanyahu wants to make them pay for what they did to him,” argued Nachman Shai, a member of Parliament from the opposition party Kadima and a former news executive who helped set up Channel 10 a decade ago. “But it is also part of a three-front struggle — over the courts, civil society and the media. The right wants to control every institution. Freedom of expression is at risk.”
Those around Mr. Netanyahu, who filed a million-dollar libel suit against the station, say Channel 10 is a failed business whose payments have been forgiven numerous times and is hiding behind political complaints and inflated concerns about free speech to make the public absorb its debts.
On its face, the request by Channel 10 is modest. It owes $11 million, most of it to an official regulatory body, the rest in taxes. Ayelet Metzger, deputy director general of the regulatory body, said both her agency and the Finance Ministry had agreed to postpone the debt for a year.
But a parliamentary committee this month voted against doing so. Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition obliged its members to vote no. This means that Channel 10 will, in theory, shut its doors at the end of January, when its 10-year franchise ends.
In practice, there will be a drawn-out battle to save it because of the belief that it plays a vital role in public debate through its crusading investigative news broadcasts. The only other independent station is Channel 2, which is also facing economic woes.
Otherwise, Mr. Netanyahu has strong influence over other media outlets: the state-owned Channel 1, State Radio and a freely distributed and successful newspaper, Yisrael Hayom, owned by a close American friend, the billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
President Shimon Peres, a member of Kadima, has weighed in, saying that the channel’s effort to survive is “a struggle for Israel’s democratic character.” In a related comment, he also declared himself “ashamed” of several bills being considered in Parliament that he believes chip away at democracy in Israel: an antidefamation law, one that silences loudspeakers issuing the Muslim call to prayer and another that prevents foreign governments from financing left-wing Israeli groups.
Last summer, Parliament passed a law making it possible to sue anyone who advocates boycotting things Israeli, including West Bank settlements.
Channel 10 infuriated the Netanyahus over the reports of lavish travel, when he was a member of Parliament and as finance minister, and spurred a continuing investigation by the state comptroller. But the channel also angered previous leaders, playing a key role in exposing the way the 2006 Lebanon war was conducted and publicizing suspicions of corrupt land deals in the family of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
It brought to the screen the fate of a Palestinian doctor in Gaza whose three daughters were killed in the 2008-2009 offensive there by Israeli forces, and showed a minister from the nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu arriving at the home of a woman suspected to be his mistress and leaving the house the next morning.
“I believe that if we die, the message will be clear that if you have the guts to open a critical news company, you will go bankrupt,” said Raviv Drucker, the station’s chief investigative reporter, who broke the story of Mr. Netanyahu’s travels.
An executive of Channel 10 who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that he had been told by a top aide of Mr. Netanyahu that if Mr. Drucker were given a long vacation, postponing the debt would be a lot easier. Mr. Netanyahu’s office said no such conversation had occurred.
Bethel Finance: Israel to 'Go Dark' Next April?
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Fiannce news:
Israel could find itself “going dark” this coming April, after MK Carmel Shama-Hacohen said Tuesday that under no circumstances would the Knesset Economics Committee, which he chairs, extend the operating license of the Israel Electric Company beyond that time unless it takes real, solid steps for reform. Considering that Israeli governments for the past 15 years have been after the IEC to agree to the reforms – so far to no avail – Israelis may find themselves suffering from IEC “work actions,” like blackouts and brownouts, this spring.
Shama-Hacohen laid down the gauntlet for the IEC in a Committee meeting Tuesday, when he and MKs on the Committee refused to extend the IEC's operating license altogether. In a heated discussion during the meeting, Energy and Water Ministry officials asked that the license be extended until 2013. The license needs to be extended annually because of the passage of the Electricity Law in 1996, which requires the IEC to make way for private electric providers. Until the law is implemented, the IEC continues to operate on a provisional basis, although in practice it remains a monopoly. Without the license, the IEC cannot legally generate electricity.
Shama-Hacohen slammed the IEC officials for ducking their commitment to reform. “Why do we have to go through this charade every year?” he asked. If the IEC intended to renege on its commitments and wanted to remain in business, the Knesset should pass a law abrogating its 1996 measure.
At that point, Shama-Hacohen called for a vote – and for the first time, the IEC request for a license extension was turned down. As it stands now, the license runs out on Friday. However, Shama-Hacohen said that he would call for another vote this week and recommend an extension of the license – but only until April 14, 2012. And there would be no further extensions unless real progress was made on reform – including restructuring the IEC, and providing competitors with access to the electricity grid. The IEC has vociferously opposed both for years.
Energy and Water Ministry officials expressed deep worry at Shama-Hacohen's stance, saying that they couldn't possibly arrange for legislation to ensure the transition to a private electricity market by April. In response, Shama-Hacohen said that the Electricity Law was very clear and simple to understand, and what was really needed was a firm stance by the government on implementing it.
Polls consistently show that IEC workers are among the best paid in Israel. The IEC workers' union is considered one of the country's strongest.
Bethel Fiannce news:
Israel could find itself “going dark” this coming April, after MK Carmel Shama-Hacohen said Tuesday that under no circumstances would the Knesset Economics Committee, which he chairs, extend the operating license of the Israel Electric Company beyond that time unless it takes real, solid steps for reform. Considering that Israeli governments for the past 15 years have been after the IEC to agree to the reforms – so far to no avail – Israelis may find themselves suffering from IEC “work actions,” like blackouts and brownouts, this spring.
Shama-Hacohen laid down the gauntlet for the IEC in a Committee meeting Tuesday, when he and MKs on the Committee refused to extend the IEC's operating license altogether. In a heated discussion during the meeting, Energy and Water Ministry officials asked that the license be extended until 2013. The license needs to be extended annually because of the passage of the Electricity Law in 1996, which requires the IEC to make way for private electric providers. Until the law is implemented, the IEC continues to operate on a provisional basis, although in practice it remains a monopoly. Without the license, the IEC cannot legally generate electricity.
Shama-Hacohen slammed the IEC officials for ducking their commitment to reform. “Why do we have to go through this charade every year?” he asked. If the IEC intended to renege on its commitments and wanted to remain in business, the Knesset should pass a law abrogating its 1996 measure.
At that point, Shama-Hacohen called for a vote – and for the first time, the IEC request for a license extension was turned down. As it stands now, the license runs out on Friday. However, Shama-Hacohen said that he would call for another vote this week and recommend an extension of the license – but only until April 14, 2012. And there would be no further extensions unless real progress was made on reform – including restructuring the IEC, and providing competitors with access to the electricity grid. The IEC has vociferously opposed both for years.
Energy and Water Ministry officials expressed deep worry at Shama-Hacohen's stance, saying that they couldn't possibly arrange for legislation to ensure the transition to a private electricity market by April. In response, Shama-Hacohen said that the Electricity Law was very clear and simple to understand, and what was really needed was a firm stance by the government on implementing it.
Polls consistently show that IEC workers are among the best paid in Israel. The IEC workers' union is considered one of the country's strongest.
Bethel Finance: Israeli Inflation-Linked Bonds Drop After Central Bank Holds Rates Steady
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Israeli consumer price index-linked bonds declined, pushing yields to the highest level in a week, on speculation inflation will remain within the government’s target range after the central bank held borrowing costs.
The yield on the inflation-linked notes maturing in June 2014 climbed four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 0.69 percent at 11:10 a.m. in Tel Aviv, the highest since Dec. 20. The rate on the consumer price-linked bonds due April 2018 rose two basis points to 1.51 percent.
“There was nothing dramatic in the decision, we’re going to continue in a low inflation environment with a global recession and global interest rates staying low,” said Moshik Yaniv, head of the local fixed-income desk at Migdal Capital Markets Ltd. in Tel Aviv.
The Bank of Israel yesterday maintained its benchmark interest rate at 2.75 percent after reducing it twice in three months, saying the economy was expanding and that policy makers wanted to be able to react to future developments. Eight out of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the decision, while 12 predicted a quarter-point decrease. The bank lowered its 2012 growth forecast to 2.8 percent from a September prediction of 3.2 percent, citing the European debt crisis.
November inflation slowed to 2.6 percent, the third month this year that the rate is within the government’s 1 percent to 3 percent target range. The two-year break-even rate, the yield difference between inflation-linked bonds and fixed-rate government bonds of similar maturity, rose four basis points to 197, implying an average annual inflation rate of 1.97 percent.
The yield on the benchmark 5.5 percent notes due in January 2022 rose three basis points to 4.56 percent. The shekel weakened 0.3 percent to 3.7874 a dollar.
The Tel Aviv Bond 40 Index, which measures inflation-linked and fixed-rate corporate bonds, rose less than 0.1 percent to 257.11.
Bethel Finance news:
Israeli consumer price index-linked bonds declined, pushing yields to the highest level in a week, on speculation inflation will remain within the government’s target range after the central bank held borrowing costs.
The yield on the inflation-linked notes maturing in June 2014 climbed four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 0.69 percent at 11:10 a.m. in Tel Aviv, the highest since Dec. 20. The rate on the consumer price-linked bonds due April 2018 rose two basis points to 1.51 percent.
“There was nothing dramatic in the decision, we’re going to continue in a low inflation environment with a global recession and global interest rates staying low,” said Moshik Yaniv, head of the local fixed-income desk at Migdal Capital Markets Ltd. in Tel Aviv.
The Bank of Israel yesterday maintained its benchmark interest rate at 2.75 percent after reducing it twice in three months, saying the economy was expanding and that policy makers wanted to be able to react to future developments. Eight out of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the decision, while 12 predicted a quarter-point decrease. The bank lowered its 2012 growth forecast to 2.8 percent from a September prediction of 3.2 percent, citing the European debt crisis.
November inflation slowed to 2.6 percent, the third month this year that the rate is within the government’s 1 percent to 3 percent target range. The two-year break-even rate, the yield difference between inflation-linked bonds and fixed-rate government bonds of similar maturity, rose four basis points to 197, implying an average annual inflation rate of 1.97 percent.
The yield on the benchmark 5.5 percent notes due in January 2022 rose three basis points to 4.56 percent. The shekel weakened 0.3 percent to 3.7874 a dollar.
The Tel Aviv Bond 40 Index, which measures inflation-linked and fixed-rate corporate bonds, rose less than 0.1 percent to 257.11.
Bethel Finance: A one-day business forum organized by the Macedonian-Israeli Business Club, and featuring officials from Macedonia and other countries
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
The Macedonian Israeli Business Club, supported by HE Mr. David Cohen, Ambassador of Israel to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Albania, featured a premium B2B matchmaking event where participants were able to generate new business and partners.
Macedonian's Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Pesevski who represented the Macedonian's government pointed out that Macedonia has established “very good relations with MASHAV [the Israeli Agency for International Cooperation and Development], stating that “a MASHAV representative will be permanently present” in Skopje.
Until now, the most visible such organizations in Macedonia have been the American USAID followed by various smaller EU bodies, and Turkey’s TIKA.
The forum was designated for companies from the following sectors:
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
• Agriculture and food processing
• Renewable/Alternative energy
• Health and pharmaceutical
• Tourism
• Other (security, construction, education, finance, and services) Although Macedonian-Israeli business ties are already developed and date back to the 1990s, the event marked the first formal meeting of its type in Skopje.
Bethel Finance news:
The Macedonian Israeli Business Club, supported by HE Mr. David Cohen, Ambassador of Israel to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Albania, featured a premium B2B matchmaking event where participants were able to generate new business and partners.
Macedonian's Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Pesevski who represented the Macedonian's government pointed out that Macedonia has established “very good relations with MASHAV [the Israeli Agency for International Cooperation and Development], stating that “a MASHAV representative will be permanently present” in Skopje.
Until now, the most visible such organizations in Macedonia have been the American USAID followed by various smaller EU bodies, and Turkey’s TIKA.
The forum was designated for companies from the following sectors:
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
• Agriculture and food processing
• Renewable/Alternative energy
• Health and pharmaceutical
• Tourism
• Other (security, construction, education, finance, and services) Although Macedonian-Israeli business ties are already developed and date back to the 1990s, the event marked the first formal meeting of its type in Skopje.
Bethel Finance: Alon Holdings Blue Square Announces Signing of an Agreement With Partner Communications Company for Launching MVNO Services
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Alon Holdings Blue Square-Israel Ltd. (hereinafter:"Alon Holdings") announced today that further to the MOU which was signed on March 23, 2011 between Alon Cellular Ltd. controlled by the Company ("Alon Cellular") and Partner Communication Company Ltd. ("Partner"), as reported by the Company on 24 March, 2011, and in connection with the Company's plans to enter the cellular communication market by becoming a Mobile Virtual Network Operator ("MVNO"), Alon Cellular and Partner have entered into an agreement ("the Agreement"), for launching cellular services in an MVNO model, which will enable Alon Cellular to offer cellular services to end users. The launch date of such services shall be coordinated between Alon Cellular and Partner.
Under the Agreement, the payments by Alon Cellular to Partner (except for certain payments of immaterial amounts) shall be in accordance with the actual usage of traffic (i.e, calls, SMS's, MMS's and data) by Alon Cellular's end users, as elaborated in the Agreement.
The term of the Agreement is for 3 years, with an option of Alon Cellular to extend the term by one additional year. In addition, Alon Cellular has the option to terminate the Agreement, at any time, against payment to Partner of an immaterial amount.
Launching the services under the Agreement, and the scope of the services provided, are at the full discretion of Alon Cellular and will depend, among other things, on future market conditions.
Alon Holdings Blue Square- Israel Ltd. (hereinafter:"Alon Holdings") is the leading retail company in the State of Israel and operates in four reporting segments: In its supermarket segment, Alon Holdings, through its 100% subsidiary, Mega Retail Ltd., currently operates 211 supermarkets under different formats, each offering a wide range of food products, "Near Food" products and "Non-Food" products at varying levels of service and pricing. In its "Non-Food" segment, Alon Holdings, through its 100% subsidiary BEE Group Retail Ltd., operates specialist outlets in self operation and franchises and offers a wide range of "Non-Food" products as retailer and wholesaler. In the Commercial and Fueling Sites segment, through its 78.38% subsidiary, which is listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchange ("TASE"), Dor Alon Energy in Israel (1988) Ltd is one of the four largest fuel retail companies in Israel based on the number of petrol stations and a leader in the field of convenience stores. Dor Alon operates a chain of 193 petrol stations and 195 convenience stores in different formats in Israel. In its Real Estate segment, Alon Holdings, through its TASE traded 78.26% subsidiary Blue Square Real Estate Ltd., owns, leases and develops yield generating commercial properties and projects.
Bethel Finance news:
Alon Holdings Blue Square-Israel Ltd. (hereinafter:"Alon Holdings") announced today that further to the MOU which was signed on March 23, 2011 between Alon Cellular Ltd. controlled by the Company ("Alon Cellular") and Partner Communication Company Ltd. ("Partner"), as reported by the Company on 24 March, 2011, and in connection with the Company's plans to enter the cellular communication market by becoming a Mobile Virtual Network Operator ("MVNO"), Alon Cellular and Partner have entered into an agreement ("the Agreement"), for launching cellular services in an MVNO model, which will enable Alon Cellular to offer cellular services to end users. The launch date of such services shall be coordinated between Alon Cellular and Partner.
Under the Agreement, the payments by Alon Cellular to Partner (except for certain payments of immaterial amounts) shall be in accordance with the actual usage of traffic (i.e, calls, SMS's, MMS's and data) by Alon Cellular's end users, as elaborated in the Agreement.
The term of the Agreement is for 3 years, with an option of Alon Cellular to extend the term by one additional year. In addition, Alon Cellular has the option to terminate the Agreement, at any time, against payment to Partner of an immaterial amount.
Launching the services under the Agreement, and the scope of the services provided, are at the full discretion of Alon Cellular and will depend, among other things, on future market conditions.
Alon Holdings Blue Square- Israel Ltd. (hereinafter:"Alon Holdings") is the leading retail company in the State of Israel and operates in four reporting segments: In its supermarket segment, Alon Holdings, through its 100% subsidiary, Mega Retail Ltd., currently operates 211 supermarkets under different formats, each offering a wide range of food products, "Near Food" products and "Non-Food" products at varying levels of service and pricing. In its "Non-Food" segment, Alon Holdings, through its 100% subsidiary BEE Group Retail Ltd., operates specialist outlets in self operation and franchises and offers a wide range of "Non-Food" products as retailer and wholesaler. In the Commercial and Fueling Sites segment, through its 78.38% subsidiary, which is listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchange ("TASE"), Dor Alon Energy in Israel (1988) Ltd is one of the four largest fuel retail companies in Israel based on the number of petrol stations and a leader in the field of convenience stores. Dor Alon operates a chain of 193 petrol stations and 195 convenience stores in different formats in Israel. In its Real Estate segment, Alon Holdings, through its TASE traded 78.26% subsidiary Blue Square Real Estate Ltd., owns, leases and develops yield generating commercial properties and projects.
Bethel Finance: Israeli PM Slams Religious Extremist Attacks on Women
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday harshly condemned increasingly hostile verbal and physical attacks by ultra-orthodox extremists against women, and demands to limit their appearance in public.
"Israel is a democratic, Western, liberal state. The public sphere is open and safe for everyone -- men and women alike. There is no place for harassment or discrimination," the prime minister said in comments released to the media.
Saturday night Netanyahu spoke with Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, and instructed the police to take forceful measures against the phenomena.
"The Israel Police are taking, and will take, action to arrest and stop those who spit, harass or raise a hand," Netanyahu said in reference to an incident on Thursday in the suburban town of Bet Shemesh, near Jerusalem, in which a group of extremists in black ultra-orthodox garb spit on a schoolgirl on her way to religious school.
The assailants said the girl was dressed immodestly, although she herself is from a religious family, and attends a school that strictly adheres to traditional Jewish modest dress codes.
"They said they want me to dress haredit, and to give them the school," eight-year-old Na'ama Margolese, a daughter of American immigrant parents, told Channel Two television on Friday. Her mother, Hadassa Braun Margolese was forced to accompany her daughter to school, due to the ongoing threats and verbal abuse.
On Sunday, a crowd of some 200 haredi men assaulted one of the station's news crews in the town, breaking a camera and slashing the van's tires, the Ha'aretz daily reported.
Many Western immigrants who have settled in the town of 50,000 residents, say the incident was only one of many in recent months, a trend that some say is an organized attempt by certain groups claiming to be strictly religious, to harass them into leaving in order to take over the neighborhood.
Aharonovitch said that 21 suspects in such attacks had been detained since the beginning of the school year -- including the suspect in the spitting attack -- and that nine had been charged, according to Army radio.
Mort Barr, who divides his time between Bet Shemesh and Atlanta, Ga., and who is himself observant, said in a blog posting on the Atlanta Jewish News website, that "partly because there is no separation of religion and state and partly due to the local culture, the arrogance of the Chareidi religious zealots invades one's domain and creates unacceptable intrusions on one's life style."
"According to their belief set, the only genuine expression of Judaism is that of their own narrow, restrictive, parochial view and they are dedicated to forcing their will on others," Barr said.
He told Xinhua that the police try, but are largely unsuccessful in calming the situation or enforcing the law.
"Rabbinic leaders, as well as other Chareidim are silent or unwilling to speak out against this violent minority because, in my opinion, the zealots have threatened any opponent with violence or loss of respect. This very vocal and aggressive minority of Israeli (but not Anglo) Chareidim project a lack of respect and love of their fellow Jew."
Netanyahu said that the incidents were not only a legal issue, but "also a social issue. It is also a question of public and social norms; therefore, I appeal to all public figures and spiritual leaders to act against this phenomenon. The public sphere in Israel will be open and safe for all."
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio that those who took part in the attacks were "psychopaths and villains," that should be jailed. He added that the Interior Minister, Eli Yishai, should instruct the city's mayor to immediately remove calling for women not to walk in certain parts of the sidewalk in strictly religious neighborhoods, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Despite repeated attempts, mayor Rabbi Moshe Abutbul and other city officials were unavailable for comment to Xinhua on their responses to the incidents.
Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat said in comment on the public debate on Sunday, that Israelis "live and let live." Her remarks, however, raised the ire of critics, owning to her role as head of the Knesset parliament's Interministerial Committee on the Status of Women.
Livnat said that in all-haredi cities, it would be "patronizing " for outsiders to tell the residents how to lead their lives. "I don't think we should tell them how to live," Livnat said, adding "We should live and let live," according to the Ynet news website.
A growing contention by some ultra orthodox Jews that Halachic religious law demands strict separation between men and women on public transportation and elsewhere in the public arena, has sharply polarized Israeli society in recent months.
Last week, five ultra-orthodox businessmen said they planned to set up a private bus company to maintain such segregation, in the latest development in a battle over the role of religion in public life.
The new company would operate in Jerusalem, Ashdod and Beit Shemesh -- all areas which have large ultra orthodox populations, and who, due to contested religious conviction, demand that men and women should sit separately on local and intercity buses.
Backers say the new service will be free of charge, in order to bypass an Israeli High Court ruling and Ministry of Transportation directives forbidding gender-based discrimination.
The initiative came after a controversy last week, when the driver of an intercity line summoned police in order to restrain an ultra-orthodox man who kept the vehicle from pulling away from a stop, due to his objection to a women who took a seat near the front door.
Tanya Rosenblit told the Yediot Aharonot news site that she boarded the Ashdod-Jerusalem bus, run by the national Egged cooperative, and decided to sit next to the driver, so he could tell her where her stop was when they arrived.
Israel's two chief rabbis, as well as other leading religious figures, have also in recent weeks came out strongly against segregated busing.
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said he was opposed to the idea, and issued a statement saying that "a person can be strict about himself, but not about others. If the haredim (ultra- orthodox) want to be strict in their own buses, let them. But imposing it on other people is irrelevant."
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who had previously said that the ultra-orthodox were wrong in trying to impose their values on the rest of the country, praised the free bus idea.
A group of Bet Shemesh residents said on Facebook pages that they are planning to hold a demonstration at the school in question on Tuesday evening, against the assaults.
Another group of men and women say they are planning -- 10 at a time -- to ride on the gender-segregated buses on Jan. 1, and take seats in "off-limits" parts of the bus in protest against the policy.
Bethel Finance news:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday harshly condemned increasingly hostile verbal and physical attacks by ultra-orthodox extremists against women, and demands to limit their appearance in public.
"Israel is a democratic, Western, liberal state. The public sphere is open and safe for everyone -- men and women alike. There is no place for harassment or discrimination," the prime minister said in comments released to the media.
Saturday night Netanyahu spoke with Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, and instructed the police to take forceful measures against the phenomena.
"The Israel Police are taking, and will take, action to arrest and stop those who spit, harass or raise a hand," Netanyahu said in reference to an incident on Thursday in the suburban town of Bet Shemesh, near Jerusalem, in which a group of extremists in black ultra-orthodox garb spit on a schoolgirl on her way to religious school.
The assailants said the girl was dressed immodestly, although she herself is from a religious family, and attends a school that strictly adheres to traditional Jewish modest dress codes.
"They said they want me to dress haredit, and to give them the school," eight-year-old Na'ama Margolese, a daughter of American immigrant parents, told Channel Two television on Friday. Her mother, Hadassa Braun Margolese was forced to accompany her daughter to school, due to the ongoing threats and verbal abuse.
On Sunday, a crowd of some 200 haredi men assaulted one of the station's news crews in the town, breaking a camera and slashing the van's tires, the Ha'aretz daily reported.
Many Western immigrants who have settled in the town of 50,000 residents, say the incident was only one of many in recent months, a trend that some say is an organized attempt by certain groups claiming to be strictly religious, to harass them into leaving in order to take over the neighborhood.
Aharonovitch said that 21 suspects in such attacks had been detained since the beginning of the school year -- including the suspect in the spitting attack -- and that nine had been charged, according to Army radio.
Mort Barr, who divides his time between Bet Shemesh and Atlanta, Ga., and who is himself observant, said in a blog posting on the Atlanta Jewish News website, that "partly because there is no separation of religion and state and partly due to the local culture, the arrogance of the Chareidi religious zealots invades one's domain and creates unacceptable intrusions on one's life style."
"According to their belief set, the only genuine expression of Judaism is that of their own narrow, restrictive, parochial view and they are dedicated to forcing their will on others," Barr said.
He told Xinhua that the police try, but are largely unsuccessful in calming the situation or enforcing the law.
"Rabbinic leaders, as well as other Chareidim are silent or unwilling to speak out against this violent minority because, in my opinion, the zealots have threatened any opponent with violence or loss of respect. This very vocal and aggressive minority of Israeli (but not Anglo) Chareidim project a lack of respect and love of their fellow Jew."
Netanyahu said that the incidents were not only a legal issue, but "also a social issue. It is also a question of public and social norms; therefore, I appeal to all public figures and spiritual leaders to act against this phenomenon. The public sphere in Israel will be open and safe for all."
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio that those who took part in the attacks were "psychopaths and villains," that should be jailed. He added that the Interior Minister, Eli Yishai, should instruct the city's mayor to immediately remove calling for women not to walk in certain parts of the sidewalk in strictly religious neighborhoods, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Despite repeated attempts, mayor Rabbi Moshe Abutbul and other city officials were unavailable for comment to Xinhua on their responses to the incidents.
Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat said in comment on the public debate on Sunday, that Israelis "live and let live." Her remarks, however, raised the ire of critics, owning to her role as head of the Knesset parliament's Interministerial Committee on the Status of Women.
Livnat said that in all-haredi cities, it would be "patronizing " for outsiders to tell the residents how to lead their lives. "I don't think we should tell them how to live," Livnat said, adding "We should live and let live," according to the Ynet news website.
A growing contention by some ultra orthodox Jews that Halachic religious law demands strict separation between men and women on public transportation and elsewhere in the public arena, has sharply polarized Israeli society in recent months.
Last week, five ultra-orthodox businessmen said they planned to set up a private bus company to maintain such segregation, in the latest development in a battle over the role of religion in public life.
The new company would operate in Jerusalem, Ashdod and Beit Shemesh -- all areas which have large ultra orthodox populations, and who, due to contested religious conviction, demand that men and women should sit separately on local and intercity buses.
Backers say the new service will be free of charge, in order to bypass an Israeli High Court ruling and Ministry of Transportation directives forbidding gender-based discrimination.
The initiative came after a controversy last week, when the driver of an intercity line summoned police in order to restrain an ultra-orthodox man who kept the vehicle from pulling away from a stop, due to his objection to a women who took a seat near the front door.
Tanya Rosenblit told the Yediot Aharonot news site that she boarded the Ashdod-Jerusalem bus, run by the national Egged cooperative, and decided to sit next to the driver, so he could tell her where her stop was when they arrived.
Israel's two chief rabbis, as well as other leading religious figures, have also in recent weeks came out strongly against segregated busing.
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said he was opposed to the idea, and issued a statement saying that "a person can be strict about himself, but not about others. If the haredim (ultra- orthodox) want to be strict in their own buses, let them. But imposing it on other people is irrelevant."
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who had previously said that the ultra-orthodox were wrong in trying to impose their values on the rest of the country, praised the free bus idea.
A group of Bet Shemesh residents said on Facebook pages that they are planning to hold a demonstration at the school in question on Tuesday evening, against the assaults.
Another group of men and women say they are planning -- 10 at a time -- to ride on the gender-segregated buses on Jan. 1, and take seats in "off-limits" parts of the bus in protest against the policy.
Bethel Finance: US earmarks $235 million for Israel missiles
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Israel says the U.S. has agreed to provide it with an additional $235 million to finance its rocket system.
"The aid from the American Congress is a supplementary step in the reinforcement of Israeli-American relations in the area of defence," Defence Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement.
The additional funds come on top of the three billion dollars of annual military aid given by the US to Israel. AFP
This unprecedented sum comes at an unexpected time, while the American government is dealing with large budget cuts, including at the Pentagon.
However, Pentagon officials were the ones who requested that Congress approve a $106 million aid budget for Israel's defense systems against missiles, on top of the Iron Dome budget.
Congress chose to nearly double that amount, approving a budget of $235 million for 2012, amounting to $25 million more than in 2011.
This budget, however, is not considered to be part of the American aid to Israel, but rather, goes towards military cooperation between both countries, with each one allocating a similar amount in developing anti-missile systems.
The U.S.' defense assistance to Israel is estimated at over $3 billion for 10 years, beginning in 2007, two-thirds of which end up in the hands of America's military industries.
Bethel Finance news:
Israel says the U.S. has agreed to provide it with an additional $235 million to finance its rocket system.
"The aid from the American Congress is a supplementary step in the reinforcement of Israeli-American relations in the area of defence," Defence Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement.
The additional funds come on top of the three billion dollars of annual military aid given by the US to Israel. AFP
This unprecedented sum comes at an unexpected time, while the American government is dealing with large budget cuts, including at the Pentagon.
However, Pentagon officials were the ones who requested that Congress approve a $106 million aid budget for Israel's defense systems against missiles, on top of the Iron Dome budget.
Congress chose to nearly double that amount, approving a budget of $235 million for 2012, amounting to $25 million more than in 2011.
This budget, however, is not considered to be part of the American aid to Israel, but rather, goes towards military cooperation between both countries, with each one allocating a similar amount in developing anti-missile systems.
The U.S.' defense assistance to Israel is estimated at over $3 billion for 10 years, beginning in 2007, two-thirds of which end up in the hands of America's military industries.
Bethel Finance:Israel's unemployment rate falls to all-time low
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Israel's unemployment rate fell to 5% of the civilian labor force in October 2011, an all-time low, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today.
The Central Bureau of Statistics also revised its unemployment figures for the preceding months, indicating a steady monthly decline of 0.1-0.2% in the unemployment rate since January. The unemployment fell from 6.2% in January to 5.6% in May and 5% in October.
The figures are surprising, given that economic activity is declining, including by labor-intensive export-oriented manufacturing. However, the unemployment rate is the economic indicator with the longest time-lag in its response to changes in activity.
Many economists attribute part of the drop in the unemployment to bad reasons: more people are leaving the jobs market, as indicated by the previous labor survey, which lowers the unemployment rate.
Psagot Investment House Ltd. macroeconomics research manager Ori Greenfeld says, "These are problematic figures. The drop in unemployment could also be due to the fall in participation in the workforce, which mathematically reduces the unemployment rate. The Central Bureau of Statistics examines how many people are seeking jobs among people who really want to work. If people give up looking for work, the unemployment rate also falls. We're already in a slowdown. We should see the unemployment rate rise later on."
All the same, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz did not pass up the opportunity to celebrate, saying, "We are proud of the fall in the unemployment rate to the historic level of 5% - evidence of the success of the government's anti-crisis policy. To keep this achievement of low unemployment in the future, in view of the worsening crisis in Europe, we must continue to encourage investment and growth in the economy while scrupulously maintaining responsible fiscal policy."
Bethel Finance news:
Israel's unemployment rate fell to 5% of the civilian labor force in October 2011, an all-time low, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today.
The Central Bureau of Statistics also revised its unemployment figures for the preceding months, indicating a steady monthly decline of 0.1-0.2% in the unemployment rate since January. The unemployment fell from 6.2% in January to 5.6% in May and 5% in October.
The figures are surprising, given that economic activity is declining, including by labor-intensive export-oriented manufacturing. However, the unemployment rate is the economic indicator with the longest time-lag in its response to changes in activity.
Many economists attribute part of the drop in the unemployment to bad reasons: more people are leaving the jobs market, as indicated by the previous labor survey, which lowers the unemployment rate.
Psagot Investment House Ltd. macroeconomics research manager Ori Greenfeld says, "These are problematic figures. The drop in unemployment could also be due to the fall in participation in the workforce, which mathematically reduces the unemployment rate. The Central Bureau of Statistics examines how many people are seeking jobs among people who really want to work. If people give up looking for work, the unemployment rate also falls. We're already in a slowdown. We should see the unemployment rate rise later on."
All the same, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz did not pass up the opportunity to celebrate, saying, "We are proud of the fall in the unemployment rate to the historic level of 5% - evidence of the success of the government's anti-crisis policy. To keep this achievement of low unemployment in the future, in view of the worsening crisis in Europe, we must continue to encourage investment and growth in the economy while scrupulously maintaining responsible fiscal policy."
Bethel Finance:The Israeli Economy - Summary of 2011
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
The Israeli economy continued to withstand the global economic crisis in 2011, which turned out to be an important year for the Israeli economy also due to key socio-economic issues receiving more attention.
The following article summarizes key events and developments over the last year in the Ministry of Finance and the Israeli economy, with links to further information in articles posted over the last year by the International Affairs Department in the ministry.
The Israeli economy maintains growth
The Israeli economy continued to withstand the global economic crisis in 2011, while maintaining growth: Israel's GDP per-capita is forecasted to grow by 3% in 2011. Also, Israel managed to decrease its unemployment to an historic low level, standing at only 5.5% in the 2nd quarter of 2011, and 5.6% in the 3rd quarter of 2011.
Inflation in the last 12 months (Nov. 2011 compared to Nov. 2010) stands at 2.6%, within the target bandwidth of the Bank of Israel (1%-3%). Average monthly Consumer Price Index (where 2010=100) grew from 101.4 in Nov. 2010 to 104.1 in Oct. 2011. The Bank of Israel Interest rate grew gradually from 2% in Jan. 2011 to 3.25% in June. In between June to September, Bank of Israel interest rate was stagnant, and then was gradually decreased to 2.75% in Dec. 2011.
Both imports and exports knew a recovery in the 1st half of 2011, with a decline in the 3rd quarter. Exports of goods and services are forecasted to grow by 3.8% in 2011, and imports of goods and services are forecasted to grow by 9.2% in 2011.
The Sheshinski Committee submitted its final conclusions
Final conclusions by the Committee to Examine the Policy on Oil and Gas Resources in Israel, headed by Prof. Eytan Sheshinski were released on January 3, 2011. The Committee recommended several fiscal changes due to major developments and findings of natural gas in Israel.
The outcome of these fiscal changes will ensure that the cash flow of the projects during the debt repayment period will not be impaired, which will safeguard the ability to finance the ventures. That, by reducing the maximum tax rate of the state’s share in the profits, which keeps it on par with the accepted rate of taxes in most countries in which these operations are conducted.
Barclays to establish R&D center in Israel to support their global operations
Barclays Capital investment bank began operating in Israel in 2008, and in March, Barclays announced plans to open a technology research and development (R&D) center in Israel, to be called the Israel Development and Engineering Center (IDEC).
The decision to establish the center was made by the Barclays Group's management following the unveiling of the government's Competitive Advantage program to promote high-tech industries in Israel, which was formulated by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.
Following Barclay's, the American Citigroup bank also intends to open a technology R&D center in Israel to support its global activities.
Social protests over the cost of living sweep Israel
After several demonstrations over prices of specific products in Israel, such as fuel and cottage cheese, a protest over housing prices in July evolved into a cross-nation general protest over the cost of living, including basic grocery consumption products, housing, the price of raising children, and more.
On August 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed a professional committee for socio-economic change, chaired by Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg, in order to hold a broad dialogue with different groups and sectors within the public, listen to the distress and to proposals, and make recommendations that will be submitted to the Social and Economic Cabinet chaired by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Yuval Steinitz.
So far, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) enacted the committee's tax proposals in December, benefiting middle wage earning workers. In addition, a team to examine how to increase competitiveness in the banking industry was appointed by the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Israel. The team will also give its views on various means for simplifying the banking product, strengthening customers' ability to negotiate with banks, and improving and broadening the service relating to credit information in the household and small business sectors.
Also, the Committee on Increasing of Competitiveness in the Economy has concluded the interim stage of the formulation of its recommendations at the end of September. The Committee has been requested to examine the effect of the existing structure of the economy on the level of competition in various sectors of the economy, its financial stability and its economic efficiency.
The Committee's main recommendation was to prohibit the control or holding in a significant financial institution by a significant real entity or by the controlling shareholder of a significant real entity.
Bethel Finance news:
The Israeli economy continued to withstand the global economic crisis in 2011, which turned out to be an important year for the Israeli economy also due to key socio-economic issues receiving more attention.
The following article summarizes key events and developments over the last year in the Ministry of Finance and the Israeli economy, with links to further information in articles posted over the last year by the International Affairs Department in the ministry.
The Israeli economy maintains growth
The Israeli economy continued to withstand the global economic crisis in 2011, while maintaining growth: Israel's GDP per-capita is forecasted to grow by 3% in 2011. Also, Israel managed to decrease its unemployment to an historic low level, standing at only 5.5% in the 2nd quarter of 2011, and 5.6% in the 3rd quarter of 2011.
Inflation in the last 12 months (Nov. 2011 compared to Nov. 2010) stands at 2.6%, within the target bandwidth of the Bank of Israel (1%-3%). Average monthly Consumer Price Index (where 2010=100) grew from 101.4 in Nov. 2010 to 104.1 in Oct. 2011. The Bank of Israel Interest rate grew gradually from 2% in Jan. 2011 to 3.25% in June. In between June to September, Bank of Israel interest rate was stagnant, and then was gradually decreased to 2.75% in Dec. 2011.
Both imports and exports knew a recovery in the 1st half of 2011, with a decline in the 3rd quarter. Exports of goods and services are forecasted to grow by 3.8% in 2011, and imports of goods and services are forecasted to grow by 9.2% in 2011.
The Sheshinski Committee submitted its final conclusions
Final conclusions by the Committee to Examine the Policy on Oil and Gas Resources in Israel, headed by Prof. Eytan Sheshinski were released on January 3, 2011. The Committee recommended several fiscal changes due to major developments and findings of natural gas in Israel.
The outcome of these fiscal changes will ensure that the cash flow of the projects during the debt repayment period will not be impaired, which will safeguard the ability to finance the ventures. That, by reducing the maximum tax rate of the state’s share in the profits, which keeps it on par with the accepted rate of taxes in most countries in which these operations are conducted.
Barclays to establish R&D center in Israel to support their global operations
Barclays Capital investment bank began operating in Israel in 2008, and in March, Barclays announced plans to open a technology research and development (R&D) center in Israel, to be called the Israel Development and Engineering Center (IDEC).
The decision to establish the center was made by the Barclays Group's management following the unveiling of the government's Competitive Advantage program to promote high-tech industries in Israel, which was formulated by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.
Following Barclay's, the American Citigroup bank also intends to open a technology R&D center in Israel to support its global activities.
Social protests over the cost of living sweep Israel
After several demonstrations over prices of specific products in Israel, such as fuel and cottage cheese, a protest over housing prices in July evolved into a cross-nation general protest over the cost of living, including basic grocery consumption products, housing, the price of raising children, and more.
On August 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed a professional committee for socio-economic change, chaired by Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg, in order to hold a broad dialogue with different groups and sectors within the public, listen to the distress and to proposals, and make recommendations that will be submitted to the Social and Economic Cabinet chaired by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Yuval Steinitz.
So far, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) enacted the committee's tax proposals in December, benefiting middle wage earning workers. In addition, a team to examine how to increase competitiveness in the banking industry was appointed by the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Israel. The team will also give its views on various means for simplifying the banking product, strengthening customers' ability to negotiate with banks, and improving and broadening the service relating to credit information in the household and small business sectors.
Also, the Committee on Increasing of Competitiveness in the Economy has concluded the interim stage of the formulation of its recommendations at the end of September. The Committee has been requested to examine the effect of the existing structure of the economy on the level of competition in various sectors of the economy, its financial stability and its economic efficiency.
The Committee's main recommendation was to prohibit the control or holding in a significant financial institution by a significant real entity or by the controlling shareholder of a significant real entity.
Bethel Finance: ICL to pay 90 pct of Dead Sea salt harvest -report
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Dec 25 (Reuters) - Israel Chemicals (ICL) will have to finance 90 percent of the cost of harvesting salt from the Dead Sea and pay higher royalties under a Finance Ministry plan, Israeli media said on Sunday.
The cost of harvesting salt by ICL's unit Dead Sea Works is around 3.8 billion shekels ($1 billion), financial newspapers said. Israel's government would finance the remaining 10 percent.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said he has made a final offer to ICL, the second largest company traded in Tel Aviv and one of the world's biggest potash producers, but his office declined to say what the proposal entailed.
The ministry said the state should benefit from its natural resources and that royalties ICL would pay to the government for extracting minerals from the Dead Sea would be doubled. ICL currently pays royalties of 5 percent.
Steinitz has given ICL until Tuesday at midnight (2200 GMT) to respond to his offer, according to a statement.
Should ICL reject the offer, Steinitz said he would set up a committee to determine how much the state should receive from harvesting the Dead Sea of salt to prevent flooding caused by ICL's mining activities.
A similar government-appointed panel earlier this year recommended imposing a 20 percent to 50 percent tax on profits from natural gas finds.
ICL said talks were ongoing and would not confirm the details of the media reports.
"Dead Sea Works has every intention and willingness to get to and reach an agreement regarding the funding issue of the Dead Sea salt harvest," ICL said in a statement. ($1=3.78 shekels)
Bethel Finance news:
Dec 25 (Reuters) - Israel Chemicals (ICL) will have to finance 90 percent of the cost of harvesting salt from the Dead Sea and pay higher royalties under a Finance Ministry plan, Israeli media said on Sunday.
The cost of harvesting salt by ICL's unit Dead Sea Works is around 3.8 billion shekels ($1 billion), financial newspapers said. Israel's government would finance the remaining 10 percent.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said he has made a final offer to ICL, the second largest company traded in Tel Aviv and one of the world's biggest potash producers, but his office declined to say what the proposal entailed.
The ministry said the state should benefit from its natural resources and that royalties ICL would pay to the government for extracting minerals from the Dead Sea would be doubled. ICL currently pays royalties of 5 percent.
Steinitz has given ICL until Tuesday at midnight (2200 GMT) to respond to his offer, according to a statement.
Should ICL reject the offer, Steinitz said he would set up a committee to determine how much the state should receive from harvesting the Dead Sea of salt to prevent flooding caused by ICL's mining activities.
A similar government-appointed panel earlier this year recommended imposing a 20 percent to 50 percent tax on profits from natural gas finds.
ICL said talks were ongoing and would not confirm the details of the media reports.
"Dead Sea Works has every intention and willingness to get to and reach an agreement regarding the funding issue of the Dead Sea salt harvest," ICL said in a statement. ($1=3.78 shekels)
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Bethel Finance: OPKO Health To Acquire FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd.
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
OPKO Health, Inc. /quotes/zigman/465359/quotes/nls/opk OPK -1.45% announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd., a profitable Israeli company which develops and produces high value, high potency active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The transaction is expected to close on December 29, 2011. FineTech, established by Arie L. Gutman, Ph.D., possesses proprietary technology and know-how in several important areas of organic synthesis. The company offers a full range of services from paper chemistry and laboratory scale development to pilot scale and commercial production; it is staffed with a team of highly qualified chemists with vast experience in synthetic and analytical chemistry, as well as expertise in multi-step syntheses, new polymorph development, and chiral and prostaglandin chemistry. FineTech's FDA registered facility in Nesher, Israel is equipped with state-of-the-art laboratory, production and quality control equipment. FineTech's business model has been to develop complex and problematic APIs for sale or license to pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Israel.
"This acquisition is a good strategic fit for OPKO," said Phillip Frost, M.D., OPKO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "FineTech's significant know-how and experience with analytical chemistry and organic syntheses, together with its production capabilities, will play a valuable role in the development of OPKO's pipeline of proprietary peptoids and other molecules for diagnostic and therapeutic products, while providing revenues and profits."
"My colleagues and I are very excited to become part of the OPKO family and look forward to the opportunities and challenges that await us," said Dr. Arie L. Gutman, President and CEO of FineTech. "We expect continued growth of revenues and profits from existing products and those in development. Our ability to develop novel processes for making complex synthetic molecules will make us a very productive and valued contributor to the OPKO business." Following the acquisition, Dr. Gutman will continue to serve as CEO of FineTech.
About OPKO Health, Inc.
OPKO is a multi-national biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company that seeks to establish industry-leading positions in large and rapidly growing medical markets by leveraging its discovery, development and commercialization expertise and novel and proprietary technologies.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), which statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "plans," "projects," "will," "may," "anticipates," "believes," "should," "intends," "estimates," and other words of similar meaning, including statements regarding the FineTech acquisition and expected benefits, the anticipated closing date, expectations regarding the development of the Company's research and development portfolio, and statements regarding financial projections, including expectations for continued growth of revenues and profits, as well as other non-historical statements about our expectations, beliefs or intentions regarding our business, technologies and products, financial condition, strategies or prospects. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. These factors include those described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as integration issues involving FineTech, and risks inherent in funding, developing and obtaining regulatory approvals of new, commercially-viable and competitive products and treatments. In addition, forward-looking statements may also be adversely affected by general market factors, competitive product development, product availability, federal and state regulations and legislation, the regulatory process for new products and indications, manufacturing issues that may arise, patent positions and litigation, among other factors. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date the statements were made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the PSLRA.
Bethel Finance news:
OPKO Health, Inc. /quotes/zigman/465359/quotes/nls/opk OPK -1.45% announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd., a profitable Israeli company which develops and produces high value, high potency active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The transaction is expected to close on December 29, 2011. FineTech, established by Arie L. Gutman, Ph.D., possesses proprietary technology and know-how in several important areas of organic synthesis. The company offers a full range of services from paper chemistry and laboratory scale development to pilot scale and commercial production; it is staffed with a team of highly qualified chemists with vast experience in synthetic and analytical chemistry, as well as expertise in multi-step syntheses, new polymorph development, and chiral and prostaglandin chemistry. FineTech's FDA registered facility in Nesher, Israel is equipped with state-of-the-art laboratory, production and quality control equipment. FineTech's business model has been to develop complex and problematic APIs for sale or license to pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Israel.
"This acquisition is a good strategic fit for OPKO," said Phillip Frost, M.D., OPKO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "FineTech's significant know-how and experience with analytical chemistry and organic syntheses, together with its production capabilities, will play a valuable role in the development of OPKO's pipeline of proprietary peptoids and other molecules for diagnostic and therapeutic products, while providing revenues and profits."
"My colleagues and I are very excited to become part of the OPKO family and look forward to the opportunities and challenges that await us," said Dr. Arie L. Gutman, President and CEO of FineTech. "We expect continued growth of revenues and profits from existing products and those in development. Our ability to develop novel processes for making complex synthetic molecules will make us a very productive and valued contributor to the OPKO business." Following the acquisition, Dr. Gutman will continue to serve as CEO of FineTech.
About OPKO Health, Inc.
OPKO is a multi-national biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company that seeks to establish industry-leading positions in large and rapidly growing medical markets by leveraging its discovery, development and commercialization expertise and novel and proprietary technologies.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), which statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "plans," "projects," "will," "may," "anticipates," "believes," "should," "intends," "estimates," and other words of similar meaning, including statements regarding the FineTech acquisition and expected benefits, the anticipated closing date, expectations regarding the development of the Company's research and development portfolio, and statements regarding financial projections, including expectations for continued growth of revenues and profits, as well as other non-historical statements about our expectations, beliefs or intentions regarding our business, technologies and products, financial condition, strategies or prospects. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. These factors include those described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as integration issues involving FineTech, and risks inherent in funding, developing and obtaining regulatory approvals of new, commercially-viable and competitive products and treatments. In addition, forward-looking statements may also be adversely affected by general market factors, competitive product development, product availability, federal and state regulations and legislation, the regulatory process for new products and indications, manufacturing issues that may arise, patent positions and litigation, among other factors. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date the statements were made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the PSLRA.
Bethel Finance: Teva Sees Sales, Profit Up In 2012
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. predicted its earnings and sales would rise in 2012, aided by the introduction of new generic drugs that could help its U.S. business recover from recent weakness.
The Israel generic-drug company, which has diversified into brand-name and over-the-counter drugs, also said its board authorized the repurchase of up to $3 billion of its ordinary shares or American depositary shares from time to time, based on market conditions. The buyback would represent about 8% of Teva's shares outstanding.
Bethel Finance news:
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. predicted its earnings and sales would rise in 2012, aided by the introduction of new generic drugs that could help its U.S. business recover from recent weakness.
The Israel generic-drug company, which has diversified into brand-name and over-the-counter drugs, also said its board authorized the repurchase of up to $3 billion of its ordinary shares or American depositary shares from time to time, based on market conditions. The buyback would represent about 8% of Teva's shares outstanding.
Bethel Finance: Seasonal visitors may find Israelis in a sour mood
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
If Christian pilgrims traveling to Bethlehem for Christmas this week happen to witness violence, for the first time militant Jews, not Palestinians, are most likely to be the perpetrators.
Now that a right-wing government has governed Israel for almost three years, settlers feel emboldened and Jewish extremists are wreaking havoc. West Bank Palestinians, meanwhile, are standing by quietly, largely minding their own business — even as these settler-marauders repeatedly attack them.
In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority now employs a widely respected police force that has effectively kept the peace. And so it certainly will in Bethlehem. Secret cooperation between Palestinian police and Israeli security forces is “one of the reasons Israeli citizens enjoy such a calm security situation of late,” Reuven Pedatzur, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, wrote last summer — before the settler-extremist violence had reached its zenith.
But in just the last few days these settlers have burned two mosques, torched Palestinian homes and cars, threatened Israelis they perceive to be leftist, and attacked an Israeli army base, wounding one of its officers. That final act, attacking the army, finally roused the government from its lackadaisical approach to the violence.
These militants, intent on challenging anyone who questions their perceived right to live in the occupied West Bank, have been causing trouble since at least the fall of 2008. Occasionally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials have offered condemnatory statements. But they’ve done little.
Now Netanyahu is giving the army new powers to arrest these malefactors and send them to administrative detention — imprisonment without charge, usually reserved for Palestinians. Why suddenly now? “Whoever lays a hand on IDF soldiers or Israeli policemen will be severely punished,” Netanyahu vowed.
Last week, 20 human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, issued a report making the point that settlers have destroyed hundreds of Palestinian homes, water wells and other structures, 10,000 olive trees and more — acting “with virtual impunity.” More than 90 percent of complaints filed with police, the report added, are closed without action.
In recent weeks, the Palestinians’ most significant bit of militancy came when six of them, reporters in tow, tried to ride a bus from the West Bank to Jerusalem, something they are not permitted to do. They called themselves “freedom riders,” after those black bus riders in the American South during the civil-rights movement of the 1960s.
(For purposes of this column, I am writing Hamas, the hopelessly murderous and unrepentant rulers of Gaza, out of the discussion.)
The Jewish extremists first announced their presence in September 2008, when they exploded a pipe bomb on the front porch of Hebrew University professor Zeev Sternhell’s home. He was an outspoken critic of settlements.
On the side of his house, the extremists spray-painted their slogan “price tag.”
Since then, the militants’ avowed policy has been to attack Palestinians or liberal Israelis as payback every time the army removes an illegal settlement outpost, or someone in Israel acts against the settlers’ interests. About 350,000 Israelis live in settlements that occupy about 10 percent of the West Bank, and on Sunday the government authorized 1,028 more settlement homes.
After hundreds of attacks over several years, last week Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the latest incidents “homegrown terror.”
He and other security officials asked the prime minister to designate the settler-extremists “terrorists.” That would give the army more leverage. Netanyahu refused, saying the violence was merely “something small that could grow to be a big plague.”
He had already made plain his lack of respect for Palestinians a few days earlier, when he voiced his support for a bill that would forbid the use of loudspeakers when mosques offer their “annoying” calls to prayer. Twenty percent of Israel’s population is Palestinian-Arab.
Now those pilgrims visiting for Christmas may find some Israelis in a sour mood.
As the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv put it: “A very bad wind is blowing through the country.”
Bethel Finance news:
If Christian pilgrims traveling to Bethlehem for Christmas this week happen to witness violence, for the first time militant Jews, not Palestinians, are most likely to be the perpetrators.
Now that a right-wing government has governed Israel for almost three years, settlers feel emboldened and Jewish extremists are wreaking havoc. West Bank Palestinians, meanwhile, are standing by quietly, largely minding their own business — even as these settler-marauders repeatedly attack them.
In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority now employs a widely respected police force that has effectively kept the peace. And so it certainly will in Bethlehem. Secret cooperation between Palestinian police and Israeli security forces is “one of the reasons Israeli citizens enjoy such a calm security situation of late,” Reuven Pedatzur, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, wrote last summer — before the settler-extremist violence had reached its zenith.
But in just the last few days these settlers have burned two mosques, torched Palestinian homes and cars, threatened Israelis they perceive to be leftist, and attacked an Israeli army base, wounding one of its officers. That final act, attacking the army, finally roused the government from its lackadaisical approach to the violence.
These militants, intent on challenging anyone who questions their perceived right to live in the occupied West Bank, have been causing trouble since at least the fall of 2008. Occasionally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials have offered condemnatory statements. But they’ve done little.
Now Netanyahu is giving the army new powers to arrest these malefactors and send them to administrative detention — imprisonment without charge, usually reserved for Palestinians. Why suddenly now? “Whoever lays a hand on IDF soldiers or Israeli policemen will be severely punished,” Netanyahu vowed.
Last week, 20 human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, issued a report making the point that settlers have destroyed hundreds of Palestinian homes, water wells and other structures, 10,000 olive trees and more — acting “with virtual impunity.” More than 90 percent of complaints filed with police, the report added, are closed without action.
In recent weeks, the Palestinians’ most significant bit of militancy came when six of them, reporters in tow, tried to ride a bus from the West Bank to Jerusalem, something they are not permitted to do. They called themselves “freedom riders,” after those black bus riders in the American South during the civil-rights movement of the 1960s.
(For purposes of this column, I am writing Hamas, the hopelessly murderous and unrepentant rulers of Gaza, out of the discussion.)
The Jewish extremists first announced their presence in September 2008, when they exploded a pipe bomb on the front porch of Hebrew University professor Zeev Sternhell’s home. He was an outspoken critic of settlements.
On the side of his house, the extremists spray-painted their slogan “price tag.”
Since then, the militants’ avowed policy has been to attack Palestinians or liberal Israelis as payback every time the army removes an illegal settlement outpost, or someone in Israel acts against the settlers’ interests. About 350,000 Israelis live in settlements that occupy about 10 percent of the West Bank, and on Sunday the government authorized 1,028 more settlement homes.
After hundreds of attacks over several years, last week Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the latest incidents “homegrown terror.”
He and other security officials asked the prime minister to designate the settler-extremists “terrorists.” That would give the army more leverage. Netanyahu refused, saying the violence was merely “something small that could grow to be a big plague.”
He had already made plain his lack of respect for Palestinians a few days earlier, when he voiced his support for a bill that would forbid the use of loudspeakers when mosques offer their “annoying” calls to prayer. Twenty percent of Israel’s population is Palestinian-Arab.
Now those pilgrims visiting for Christmas may find some Israelis in a sour mood.
As the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv put it: “A very bad wind is blowing through the country.”
Bethel Finance: Combined technology and teams expected to help accelerate pace of innovation in cloud and mobile optimization
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Helping to mitigate the challenges of operating in a hyperconnected world, Akamai provides a secure platform over which businesses can engage users across the Web, mobile, cloud, or a mix of public and private network environments. Cotendo offers an integrated suite of Web and mobile acceleration services. The combination of the two companies' technologies and teams is expected to increase the pace of innovation in the areas of cloud and mobile optimization.
"As we look to accelerate growth across the dynamic landscapes of cloud and mobile optimization, we are excited to be joining forces with Cotendo," said Paul Sagan, president and CEO of Akamai. "Cotendo's technology, partnerships and people are a strong complement to Akamai. Together, we believe there is tremendous opportunity for our combined technologies as enterprises embrace the move to the cloud and seek solutions for an increasingly mobile world."
"The Cotendo team is very proud of our accomplishments in delivering proven and effective solutions for accelerating Web and mobile assets. By combining our innovative technology and employees with Akamai, we expect our customers and partners will gain access to a comprehensive, global platform and wider portfolio of leading-edge services supported by some of the most experienced providers in the industry," said Ronni Zehavi, CEO and co-founder of Cotendo. "We look forward to working with Akamai in an effort to create the strongest offering in the industry."
Founded in 2008, Cotendo is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with a technology center in Israel. Cotendo currently has approximately 100 employees, with over 50 based in Israel.
Under terms of the agreement, Akamai will acquire all of the outstanding equity of Cotendo in exchange for a net cash payment of approximately $268 million, after expected purchase price adjustments, plus the assumption of outstanding unvested options to purchase Cotendo common stock. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, is expected to occur in the first half of 2012.
About Cotendo
A fast growing innovator of cloud-based acceleration technologies, Cotendo offers an integrated suite of Web and Mobile Acceleration Services from its global distributed points of presence (POPs). Cotendo's single platform software was built from the ground-up and includes acceleration services for dynamic web applications, static and dynamic web content, SSL, Advanced DNS, Adaptive Image Compression, performance monitoring and automatic failover as well as real-time reports and analytics. Cotendo also offers a distributed cloud application environment called Cloudlet™ that allows decision-making (logic, data) at the edge, closest to the end users. Cotendo's customer base includes Fortune 500 enterprises, Tier 1 telecommunications providers and the world's largest social networks, eCommerce sites, and advertising networks. For more information about Cotendo and its Web and Mobile Acceleration Services Suite, visit www.cotendo.com
About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com and follow @Akamai on Twitter.
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about the anticipated closing of the acquisition, the expectations with respect to the combination of the Cotendo and Akamai technologies and the expected future business and financial performance of Akamai resulting from and following the acquisition. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, inability to successfully combine the technologies of Cotendo and Akamai, inability to successfully integrate Cotendo into the business of Akamai, material adverse changes in the financial conditions or operations of Cotendo, substantial delay in the expected closing of the proposed merger, inability to secure all regulatory approvals necessary to effect the proposed merger and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
Bethel Finance news:
Helping to mitigate the challenges of operating in a hyperconnected world, Akamai provides a secure platform over which businesses can engage users across the Web, mobile, cloud, or a mix of public and private network environments. Cotendo offers an integrated suite of Web and mobile acceleration services. The combination of the two companies' technologies and teams is expected to increase the pace of innovation in the areas of cloud and mobile optimization.
"As we look to accelerate growth across the dynamic landscapes of cloud and mobile optimization, we are excited to be joining forces with Cotendo," said Paul Sagan, president and CEO of Akamai. "Cotendo's technology, partnerships and people are a strong complement to Akamai. Together, we believe there is tremendous opportunity for our combined technologies as enterprises embrace the move to the cloud and seek solutions for an increasingly mobile world."
"The Cotendo team is very proud of our accomplishments in delivering proven and effective solutions for accelerating Web and mobile assets. By combining our innovative technology and employees with Akamai, we expect our customers and partners will gain access to a comprehensive, global platform and wider portfolio of leading-edge services supported by some of the most experienced providers in the industry," said Ronni Zehavi, CEO and co-founder of Cotendo. "We look forward to working with Akamai in an effort to create the strongest offering in the industry."
Founded in 2008, Cotendo is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with a technology center in Israel. Cotendo currently has approximately 100 employees, with over 50 based in Israel.
Under terms of the agreement, Akamai will acquire all of the outstanding equity of Cotendo in exchange for a net cash payment of approximately $268 million, after expected purchase price adjustments, plus the assumption of outstanding unvested options to purchase Cotendo common stock. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, is expected to occur in the first half of 2012.
About Cotendo
A fast growing innovator of cloud-based acceleration technologies, Cotendo offers an integrated suite of Web and Mobile Acceleration Services from its global distributed points of presence (POPs). Cotendo's single platform software was built from the ground-up and includes acceleration services for dynamic web applications, static and dynamic web content, SSL, Advanced DNS, Adaptive Image Compression, performance monitoring and automatic failover as well as real-time reports and analytics. Cotendo also offers a distributed cloud application environment called Cloudlet™ that allows decision-making (logic, data) at the edge, closest to the end users. Cotendo's customer base includes Fortune 500 enterprises, Tier 1 telecommunications providers and the world's largest social networks, eCommerce sites, and advertising networks. For more information about Cotendo and its Web and Mobile Acceleration Services Suite, visit www.cotendo.com
About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com and follow @Akamai on Twitter.
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about the anticipated closing of the acquisition, the expectations with respect to the combination of the Cotendo and Akamai technologies and the expected future business and financial performance of Akamai resulting from and following the acquisition. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, inability to successfully combine the technologies of Cotendo and Akamai, inability to successfully integrate Cotendo into the business of Akamai, material adverse changes in the financial conditions or operations of Cotendo, substantial delay in the expected closing of the proposed merger, inability to secure all regulatory approvals necessary to effect the proposed merger and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
Bethel Finance: India and Israel Boost Naval Ties
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
India shares some common strategic and security threats with Israel and its desire to get closer to the US has also helped in moving the ties forward. Besides being Israel's second largest trade partner in Asia, India's defence business with Israel has already crossed $9 billon and is growing.
The STATE OF ISRAEL came into being in 1948 and India recognised it in 1950, but diplomatic relations were not established due to India's non-aligned and pro-Arab policy. however, in 1992, India formally established diplomatic relations with Israel and since then has signed a number of agreements on economic, scientific, agricultural and cultural matters. Both the countries share a strong economic, military and strategic relationship. India shares some common strategic and security threats with Israel and its desire to get closer to the US has also helped in moving the ties forward. Three mutual strategic interests that have enhanced defence and security ties include the fight against terrorism and radical Islam, concerns over proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missile technology, and the growing interest of the two states in the Indian Ocean. India's condemnation of Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories has not affected the relationship. India is also the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment and second to the russian Federation in being India's supplier of defence equipment. The defence business has already crossed $9 billon (Rs.45,000 crore) and is growing.
Bethel Finance news:
India shares some common strategic and security threats with Israel and its desire to get closer to the US has also helped in moving the ties forward. Besides being Israel's second largest trade partner in Asia, India's defence business with Israel has already crossed $9 billon and is growing.
The STATE OF ISRAEL came into being in 1948 and India recognised it in 1950, but diplomatic relations were not established due to India's non-aligned and pro-Arab policy. however, in 1992, India formally established diplomatic relations with Israel and since then has signed a number of agreements on economic, scientific, agricultural and cultural matters. Both the countries share a strong economic, military and strategic relationship. India shares some common strategic and security threats with Israel and its desire to get closer to the US has also helped in moving the ties forward. Three mutual strategic interests that have enhanced defence and security ties include the fight against terrorism and radical Islam, concerns over proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missile technology, and the growing interest of the two states in the Indian Ocean. India's condemnation of Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories has not affected the relationship. India is also the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment and second to the russian Federation in being India's supplier of defence equipment. The defence business has already crossed $9 billon (Rs.45,000 crore) and is growing.
Bethel Finance: Partner Communications Announces the Termination of the Structural Separation Period between Partner and 012 Smile
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Partner Communications Company Ltd. ("Partner" or "the Company") /quotes/zigman/81009/quotes/nls/ptnr PTNR -0.79% (tase:PTNR), a leading Israeli communications operator, announces today the termination of the limited period of time during which a structural separation between Partner and its fully owned subsidiary, 012 Smile Telecom Ltd. ("012 Smile"), was required, following the official governmental publication, dated December 14, 2011, of the Director of the Ministry of Communications announcement, dated December 8, 2011, with respect to the commencement of operation of a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).
Mr. Haim Romano, Partner's CEO, said: "We welcome this positive development that will enable us to advance the process of reaping the benefits of the 012 Smile acquisition and Partner's transformation into a comprehensive communications group."
This press release is pursuant to the Company's press release and immediate report dated March 3, 2011.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "intend", "seek", "will", "plan", "could", "may", "project", "goal", "target" and similar expressions often identify forward-looking statements but are not the only way we identify these statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release regarding our future performance, plans to increase revenues or margins or preserve or expand market share in existing or new markets, reduce expenses and any statements regarding other future events or our future prospects, are forward-looking statements.
We have based these forward-looking statements on our current knowledge and our present beliefs and expectations regarding possible future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about Partner, consumer habits and preferences in cellular telephone usage, trends in the Israeli telecommunications industry in general, the impact of current global economic conditions and possible regulatory and legal developments. For a description of some of the risks we face, see "Item 3D. Key Information - Risk Factors", "Item 4. - Information on the Company", "Item 5. - Operating and Financial Review and Prospects", "Item 8A. - Consolidated Financial Statements and Other Financial Information - Legal and Administrative Proceedings" and "Item 11. - Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk" in the Company's 2010 Annual Report (20-F) filed with the SEC on March 21, 2011. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release might not occur, and actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Partner Communications
Partner Communications Company Ltd. ("Partner") is a leading Israeli provider of telecommunications services (cellular, fixed-line telephony and internet services) under the orange(TM) brand. The Company provides mobile communications services to over 3 million subscribers in Israel. Partner's ADSs are quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market(TM) and its shares are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (nasdaq and tase:PTNR).
Partner is an approximately 45%-owned subsidiary of Scailex Corporation Ltd. ("Scailex"). Scailex's shares are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol SCIX and are quoted on "Pink Quote" under the symbol SCIXF.PK. Scailex currently operates in two major domains of activity in addition to its holding in Partner: (1) the sole import, distribution and maintenance of Samsung mobile handset and accessories products primarily to the major cellular operators in Israel (2) management of its financial assets.
Bethel Finance news:
Partner Communications Company Ltd. ("Partner" or "the Company") /quotes/zigman/81009/quotes/nls/ptnr PTNR -0.79% (tase:PTNR), a leading Israeli communications operator, announces today the termination of the limited period of time during which a structural separation between Partner and its fully owned subsidiary, 012 Smile Telecom Ltd. ("012 Smile"), was required, following the official governmental publication, dated December 14, 2011, of the Director of the Ministry of Communications announcement, dated December 8, 2011, with respect to the commencement of operation of a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).
Mr. Haim Romano, Partner's CEO, said: "We welcome this positive development that will enable us to advance the process of reaping the benefits of the 012 Smile acquisition and Partner's transformation into a comprehensive communications group."
This press release is pursuant to the Company's press release and immediate report dated March 3, 2011.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "intend", "seek", "will", "plan", "could", "may", "project", "goal", "target" and similar expressions often identify forward-looking statements but are not the only way we identify these statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release regarding our future performance, plans to increase revenues or margins or preserve or expand market share in existing or new markets, reduce expenses and any statements regarding other future events or our future prospects, are forward-looking statements.
We have based these forward-looking statements on our current knowledge and our present beliefs and expectations regarding possible future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about Partner, consumer habits and preferences in cellular telephone usage, trends in the Israeli telecommunications industry in general, the impact of current global economic conditions and possible regulatory and legal developments. For a description of some of the risks we face, see "Item 3D. Key Information - Risk Factors", "Item 4. - Information on the Company", "Item 5. - Operating and Financial Review and Prospects", "Item 8A. - Consolidated Financial Statements and Other Financial Information - Legal and Administrative Proceedings" and "Item 11. - Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk" in the Company's 2010 Annual Report (20-F) filed with the SEC on March 21, 2011. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release might not occur, and actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Partner Communications
Partner Communications Company Ltd. ("Partner") is a leading Israeli provider of telecommunications services (cellular, fixed-line telephony and internet services) under the orange(TM) brand. The Company provides mobile communications services to over 3 million subscribers in Israel. Partner's ADSs are quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market(TM) and its shares are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (nasdaq and tase:PTNR).
Partner is an approximately 45%-owned subsidiary of Scailex Corporation Ltd. ("Scailex"). Scailex's shares are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol SCIX and are quoted on "Pink Quote" under the symbol SCIXF.PK. Scailex currently operates in two major domains of activity in addition to its holding in Partner: (1) the sole import, distribution and maintenance of Samsung mobile handset and accessories products primarily to the major cellular operators in Israel (2) management of its financial assets.
Bethel Finance: Students get up-close view of Israeli high-tech innovation
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
With a concentration of high-tech startups second only to America, Israel — which has the second-most number of companies on the NASDAQ stock exchange — is considered the world’s next Silicon Valley.
Twelve students from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will get a chance to view that innovation up close when they travel to Israel Jan. 5-12, 2012 as part of a venture advising course aimed at exploring the country’s venture capital market.
Israel’s start up community, consisting of several thousand companies, is making headway in many technological fields, including medical devices and imaging, advanced chip design, wireless communications, cutting-edge Internet applications and more.
While in Israel, the Olin students, both undergraduates and graduate students, will work directly with an Israeli venture capital firm on a specified consulting project at an investing company. Olin students will be collaborating in teams with students from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, who are enrolled in their own version of the course.
“This is a truly unique and exciting opportunity for these students,” says Clifford Holekamp, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at Olin and professor of the course.
“It’s difficult to get any kind of applied or experiential learning in the world of venture capital because the firms tend to be quite small,” he says. “So this is a great chance for our students to gain a solid grounding in venture capital in a country with the second largest number of startup companies in the world.”
MBA student Tim Fetter says he’s looking forward to learning more about Israeli culture and how business is conducted in a different part of the world.
“As students, there is an incredible amount of information that we absorb in the classroom, but it’s not often that we get a chance to apply our skills and test new ideas in a real-world setting,” Fetter says. “The Israel trip will provide the perfect opportunity to do just that. “
“In addition to getting an inside look at the venture capital industry, I hope to gain some valuable insight from an entrepreneur’s perspective by analyzing real business issues that affect start-up companies. Working as part of a cross-university team will be a challenging but extremely enriching experience.”
Senior BSBA student Jordan Zipkin says he looks forward to understanding a different and highly successful entrepreneurial climate.
“Not only am I excited to apply what I have learned in the classroom” Zipkin says, “I am also thrilled that Olin has presented me with a real-world experience where conflicts and problems are not isolated and cannot be solved by one discipline, but by a larger understanding of how everything connects.
“My entrepreneurial side is thrilled to get my hands dirty on a real project, the economist in me is looking forward to have a high level consulting opportunity and as an international student who is also Jewish, I am very curious to learn and understand another new culture, and understand how their political framework has created a culture in which brilliant and creative start-ups can thrive.”
Olin Business School has a strong relationship with Israel.
In 2010, Olin launched its “Business in Israel” course. Taught by Steve Malter, PhD, assistant dean for student development and strategic initiatives at Olin, the course is designed to give undergraduate students a unique opportunity to understand the economic success, entrepreneurial spirit and innovative nature of Israeli business while learning about Israeli history, culture and politics.
In addition to their class work, students spend their spring break participating in a 10-day immersion program in Israel. While there, they meet with leaders of various business industries, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
Olin students also can take advantage of an international internship program in Israel.
Bethel Finance news:
With a concentration of high-tech startups second only to America, Israel — which has the second-most number of companies on the NASDAQ stock exchange — is considered the world’s next Silicon Valley.
Twelve students from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will get a chance to view that innovation up close when they travel to Israel Jan. 5-12, 2012 as part of a venture advising course aimed at exploring the country’s venture capital market.
Israel’s start up community, consisting of several thousand companies, is making headway in many technological fields, including medical devices and imaging, advanced chip design, wireless communications, cutting-edge Internet applications and more.
While in Israel, the Olin students, both undergraduates and graduate students, will work directly with an Israeli venture capital firm on a specified consulting project at an investing company. Olin students will be collaborating in teams with students from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, who are enrolled in their own version of the course.
“This is a truly unique and exciting opportunity for these students,” says Clifford Holekamp, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at Olin and professor of the course.
“It’s difficult to get any kind of applied or experiential learning in the world of venture capital because the firms tend to be quite small,” he says. “So this is a great chance for our students to gain a solid grounding in venture capital in a country with the second largest number of startup companies in the world.”
MBA student Tim Fetter says he’s looking forward to learning more about Israeli culture and how business is conducted in a different part of the world.
“As students, there is an incredible amount of information that we absorb in the classroom, but it’s not often that we get a chance to apply our skills and test new ideas in a real-world setting,” Fetter says. “The Israel trip will provide the perfect opportunity to do just that. “
“In addition to getting an inside look at the venture capital industry, I hope to gain some valuable insight from an entrepreneur’s perspective by analyzing real business issues that affect start-up companies. Working as part of a cross-university team will be a challenging but extremely enriching experience.”
Senior BSBA student Jordan Zipkin says he looks forward to understanding a different and highly successful entrepreneurial climate.
“Not only am I excited to apply what I have learned in the classroom” Zipkin says, “I am also thrilled that Olin has presented me with a real-world experience where conflicts and problems are not isolated and cannot be solved by one discipline, but by a larger understanding of how everything connects.
“My entrepreneurial side is thrilled to get my hands dirty on a real project, the economist in me is looking forward to have a high level consulting opportunity and as an international student who is also Jewish, I am very curious to learn and understand another new culture, and understand how their political framework has created a culture in which brilliant and creative start-ups can thrive.”
Olin Business School has a strong relationship with Israel.
In 2010, Olin launched its “Business in Israel” course. Taught by Steve Malter, PhD, assistant dean for student development and strategic initiatives at Olin, the course is designed to give undergraduate students a unique opportunity to understand the economic success, entrepreneurial spirit and innovative nature of Israeli business while learning about Israeli history, culture and politics.
In addition to their class work, students spend their spring break participating in a 10-day immersion program in Israel. While there, they meet with leaders of various business industries, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
Olin students also can take advantage of an international internship program in Israel.
Bethel Finance: Anobit acquisition keeps Apple ahead in flash memory
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Apple is in the process of buying Anobit, an Israel-based flash memory firm, according to Israel's Calcalist business news site. The purchase price isn't small--in the range of $400 million to $500 million, according to reports.
So, what does a payout in that range bring to Apple? First of all, it's important to understand that Apple is not a flash memory neophyte, according to Gregory Wong, president of Forward Insights, a flash memory market intelligence company.
"They already develop their own flash management tech," he said. Anobit, therefore, strengthens Apple's existing in-house flash memory expertise, according to Wong.
But engineering flash memory so it's reliable is an enormous challenge. Just ask companies like Intel, Micron Technology, or SanDisk who have spent billions of dollars trying to make ever faster yet reliable flash memory and solid-state drives.
As NAND flash memory geometries get smaller and more bits are stored in each memory cell, the cells become more susceptible to electrical interference and disturbance, resulting in more data errors. Sometimes referred to "read and program disturb."
Anobit has developed a memory signal processor, or MSP, that is able to manage very high bit error rates and extend the life of flash memory devices, according to Wong. (Spelled out in more detail here PDF).
This is a big issue in the flash memory business these days because it's the difference between a high-quality, long-lasting solid-state drive and a mediocre one that may peter out prematurely.
And that is important to Apple since practically all of its marquee devices now use flash as the storage medium, not traditional rotating drives.
Add this burgeoning flash expertise to Apple's formidable in-house system-on-a-chip know-how, as manifested in its A5 series of chips, and you have the makings of a chip design giant, albeit one deftly hidden inside of a device maker.
It wasn't too long ago that Apple made similar acquisitions to establish itself as a leading designer of processors used in its iPhones and iPads. Past chip company purchases include Intrinsity and P.A. Semi.
Those have seemed to have worked. Apple's dual-core A5 processor powers both the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S and is a big reason both devices have been well-received by consumers.
Bethel Finance news:
Apple is in the process of buying Anobit, an Israel-based flash memory firm, according to Israel's Calcalist business news site. The purchase price isn't small--in the range of $400 million to $500 million, according to reports.
So, what does a payout in that range bring to Apple? First of all, it's important to understand that Apple is not a flash memory neophyte, according to Gregory Wong, president of Forward Insights, a flash memory market intelligence company.
"They already develop their own flash management tech," he said. Anobit, therefore, strengthens Apple's existing in-house flash memory expertise, according to Wong.
But engineering flash memory so it's reliable is an enormous challenge. Just ask companies like Intel, Micron Technology, or SanDisk who have spent billions of dollars trying to make ever faster yet reliable flash memory and solid-state drives.
As NAND flash memory geometries get smaller and more bits are stored in each memory cell, the cells become more susceptible to electrical interference and disturbance, resulting in more data errors. Sometimes referred to "read and program disturb."
Anobit has developed a memory signal processor, or MSP, that is able to manage very high bit error rates and extend the life of flash memory devices, according to Wong. (Spelled out in more detail here PDF).
This is a big issue in the flash memory business these days because it's the difference between a high-quality, long-lasting solid-state drive and a mediocre one that may peter out prematurely.
And that is important to Apple since practically all of its marquee devices now use flash as the storage medium, not traditional rotating drives.
Add this burgeoning flash expertise to Apple's formidable in-house system-on-a-chip know-how, as manifested in its A5 series of chips, and you have the makings of a chip design giant, albeit one deftly hidden inside of a device maker.
It wasn't too long ago that Apple made similar acquisitions to establish itself as a leading designer of processors used in its iPhones and iPads. Past chip company purchases include Intrinsity and P.A. Semi.
Those have seemed to have worked. Apple's dual-core A5 processor powers both the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S and is a big reason both devices have been well-received by consumers.
Bethel Finance: Opko Health to buy Israeli drug ingredients maker
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Opko Health is buying buy FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd., an Israeli company that makes active pharmaceutical ingredients for drugmakers, the company said Wednesday.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close Dec. 29, were not disclosed.
Opko Health Inc., which is based in Miami, said FineTech makes complex ingredients for sale or license to pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel. Its Nesher, Israel, location is registered with the Food and Drug Administration and equipped with laboratory, production and quality control equipment.
Bethel Finance news:
Opko Health is buying buy FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd., an Israeli company that makes active pharmaceutical ingredients for drugmakers, the company said Wednesday.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close Dec. 29, were not disclosed.
Opko Health Inc., which is based in Miami, said FineTech makes complex ingredients for sale or license to pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel. Its Nesher, Israel, location is registered with the Food and Drug Administration and equipped with laboratory, production and quality control equipment.
Bethel Finance: Oracle’s Profit Miss Widens Mellanox Discount: Israel Overnight
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Mellanox Technologies Ltd. tumbled to the lowest level in three months after Oracle Corp., its third-biggest customer, reported quarterly sales and profit that trailed analysts’ estimates.
Mellanox fell 5.4 percent to $30.80 yesterday, swelling the discount versus the Tel Aviv shares to $1.44, the most since Nov. 18, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The drop led declines in the Bloomberg Israel-US 25 Index of the largest Israeli companies traded in New York, which fell 1.9 percent to 85.61. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. sank 1.4 percent after its profit forecast lagged behind estimates.
Oracle, which owns 8.7 percent of Mellanox, said earnings were hurt by a decline in demand for databases, applications and computer servers because of slow economic growth in the U.S. and the possibility of a recession in Europe next year. Mellanox received 11 percent of its total revenue from the world’s second-largest software company as of the second quarter, and investors are concerned Oracle may trim spending, said Rajesh Ghai, an analyst at ThinkEquity LLC.
“Oracle is a key customer to Mellanox,” Ghai said in a telephone interview from San Francisco. “The results were clearly weak compared to what they have guided in the past.”
Concern among investors that Europe’s debt crisis will curb demand for Israeli exports has pushed the Bloomberg Israel-US 25 Index has declined 18 percent and the Israeli benchmark’s TA-25 Index down 17 percent this year.
‘Aspirational Goal’
Teva, the world’s largest maker of generic drugs, forecast profit that was below estimates for next year and said it may buy back as much as $3 billion worth of its shares to return money to investors.
The company’s American depositary receipts dropped to $41.76 in New York after the Tel Aviv shares retreated 1.3 percent to 157.10 shekels, or the equivalent of $41.62. The shares rose less than 0.1 percent to 157.20 shekels in Tel Aviv today.
“People may have been hoping for slightly better guidance,” said Randall Stanicky, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity in New York. The company’s forecast “seems conservative to us.”
Earnings excluding some costs will be $5.48 to $5.68 a share in 2012, Chief Executive Officer Shlomo Yanai said on a call with investors yesterday. Analysts at Leerink Swann expected an estimate of $5.55 to $5.85.
Teva also indicated it may not meet its long-term target of $31 billion in sales by 2015, which Yanai described as an “aspirational goal.”
Maintain Growth
Mellanox shares in Tel Aviv dropped 2.9 percent to 121.70 shekels, or the equivalent of $32.24, yesterday. The shares dropped 3.9 percent to 117 shekels, or the equivalent of $31.04, today.
Oracle, which fell 12 percent yesterday, trails only International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. among Mellanox’s largest customers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The software maker said profit before some costs in the quarter ended Nov. 30 was 54 cents a share, on revenue excluding certain items of $8.81 billion. Analysts had projected profit of 57 cents on sales of $9.23 billion, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
SAP AG, the biggest German software maker and a rival of Oracle, dropped 6.1 percent to 39.92 euros in Frankfurt
The Yokneam Elit, Israel-based company’s revenue will probably surge 67 percent to $258 million this year, according to the average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
“Mellanox can maintain its growth into 2012 and 2013 because we have a small share of the market we’re playing in,” Chief Executive Officer Eyal Waldman said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Dec. 19.
Nasdaq Falls
Mellanox’s market value has surged to $1.21 billion from $877 million at the end of the first quarter as it benefits from increased demand for cloud computing and customers that seek to move data more easily over networks.
The global market for cloud computing is forecast to increase to $241 billion in 2020 from $40.7 billion in 2011, according to Forrester Research Inc.
A decline in technology stocks pushed the Nasdaq Composite Index 1 percent lower yesterday. The shekel gained 0.2 percent to 3.7690 a dollar today.
Israel, whose population of 7.7 million is similar in size to that of Switzerland’s, has about 60 companies traded on the Nasdaq stock market, the most of any country outside North America after China. It’s also home to the largest number of startup companies per capita in the world.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. joined Israeli venture capital fund Jerusalem Venture Capital to invest $40 million in Cyber Ark Software, which is based in Petach Tikva, Israel, according to a statement distributed by Business Wire yesterday.
Ormat Technologies Inc., the developer of geothermal power plants that is owned by Yavne, Israel-based Ormat Industries Ltd., rose 2 percent to $18.20.
The company signed a power purchase agreement allowing it to sell electricity from a 10-megawatt solar facility in California, its first photovoltaic project in the U.S.
Bethel Finance news:
Mellanox Technologies Ltd. tumbled to the lowest level in three months after Oracle Corp., its third-biggest customer, reported quarterly sales and profit that trailed analysts’ estimates.
Mellanox fell 5.4 percent to $30.80 yesterday, swelling the discount versus the Tel Aviv shares to $1.44, the most since Nov. 18, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The drop led declines in the Bloomberg Israel-US 25 Index of the largest Israeli companies traded in New York, which fell 1.9 percent to 85.61. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. sank 1.4 percent after its profit forecast lagged behind estimates.
Oracle, which owns 8.7 percent of Mellanox, said earnings were hurt by a decline in demand for databases, applications and computer servers because of slow economic growth in the U.S. and the possibility of a recession in Europe next year. Mellanox received 11 percent of its total revenue from the world’s second-largest software company as of the second quarter, and investors are concerned Oracle may trim spending, said Rajesh Ghai, an analyst at ThinkEquity LLC.
“Oracle is a key customer to Mellanox,” Ghai said in a telephone interview from San Francisco. “The results were clearly weak compared to what they have guided in the past.”
Concern among investors that Europe’s debt crisis will curb demand for Israeli exports has pushed the Bloomberg Israel-US 25 Index has declined 18 percent and the Israeli benchmark’s TA-25 Index down 17 percent this year.
‘Aspirational Goal’
Teva, the world’s largest maker of generic drugs, forecast profit that was below estimates for next year and said it may buy back as much as $3 billion worth of its shares to return money to investors.
The company’s American depositary receipts dropped to $41.76 in New York after the Tel Aviv shares retreated 1.3 percent to 157.10 shekels, or the equivalent of $41.62. The shares rose less than 0.1 percent to 157.20 shekels in Tel Aviv today.
“People may have been hoping for slightly better guidance,” said Randall Stanicky, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity in New York. The company’s forecast “seems conservative to us.”
Earnings excluding some costs will be $5.48 to $5.68 a share in 2012, Chief Executive Officer Shlomo Yanai said on a call with investors yesterday. Analysts at Leerink Swann expected an estimate of $5.55 to $5.85.
Teva also indicated it may not meet its long-term target of $31 billion in sales by 2015, which Yanai described as an “aspirational goal.”
Maintain Growth
Mellanox shares in Tel Aviv dropped 2.9 percent to 121.70 shekels, or the equivalent of $32.24, yesterday. The shares dropped 3.9 percent to 117 shekels, or the equivalent of $31.04, today.
Oracle, which fell 12 percent yesterday, trails only International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. among Mellanox’s largest customers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The software maker said profit before some costs in the quarter ended Nov. 30 was 54 cents a share, on revenue excluding certain items of $8.81 billion. Analysts had projected profit of 57 cents on sales of $9.23 billion, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
SAP AG, the biggest German software maker and a rival of Oracle, dropped 6.1 percent to 39.92 euros in Frankfurt
The Yokneam Elit, Israel-based company’s revenue will probably surge 67 percent to $258 million this year, according to the average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
“Mellanox can maintain its growth into 2012 and 2013 because we have a small share of the market we’re playing in,” Chief Executive Officer Eyal Waldman said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Dec. 19.
Nasdaq Falls
Mellanox’s market value has surged to $1.21 billion from $877 million at the end of the first quarter as it benefits from increased demand for cloud computing and customers that seek to move data more easily over networks.
The global market for cloud computing is forecast to increase to $241 billion in 2020 from $40.7 billion in 2011, according to Forrester Research Inc.
A decline in technology stocks pushed the Nasdaq Composite Index 1 percent lower yesterday. The shekel gained 0.2 percent to 3.7690 a dollar today.
Israel, whose population of 7.7 million is similar in size to that of Switzerland’s, has about 60 companies traded on the Nasdaq stock market, the most of any country outside North America after China. It’s also home to the largest number of startup companies per capita in the world.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. joined Israeli venture capital fund Jerusalem Venture Capital to invest $40 million in Cyber Ark Software, which is based in Petach Tikva, Israel, according to a statement distributed by Business Wire yesterday.
Ormat Technologies Inc., the developer of geothermal power plants that is owned by Yavne, Israel-based Ormat Industries Ltd., rose 2 percent to $18.20.
The company signed a power purchase agreement allowing it to sell electricity from a 10-megawatt solar facility in California, its first photovoltaic project in the U.S.
Bethel Finance: An open question to Netanyahu, Steinitz and Daphni Leef
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
Last week, I wrote about how the “so-called” middleclass tax cut is going to cause damage to both the Israeli economy as well as to those in the lower and middle classes. Now it seems like the Finance Ministry, led by Yuval Steinitz, is trying to outdo itself by dramatically increasing the taxes on luxury cars and apartments.
My gut tells me that this is only the beginning as more and more Trajtenberg committee recommendations are enacted. Measures to disincentivize job-creators, as well as those trying to climb the socioeconomic ladder, is sure to backfire by stifling capital investment and adding to the unemployment rolls.
The ultra-rich like Nochi Dankner and Shari Arison will be able to use their battery of accountants and lawyers to figure out ways to shelter their money. It’s the small and mid-sized business owners that just saw their corporate taxes increase. If they are fortunate enough to make a profit, the money that they take out of their businesses as a dividend will be taxed at a higher rate as well.
Redistributing wealth from the rich to the less fortunate doesn’t really help the less fortunate. What helps them the most is a job and incentives to invest, so that they can be enabled to do what it takes to grow their net worth and exit the poverty cycle they are relegated to. If Daphni Leef and her protesters have their way, those in lower income levels have little chance of ever escaping their current economic conditions. No society has ever been taxed into prosperity.
Required Reading Before any more damage is done, I urge the local policymakers to read the defense of capitalism penned by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the brother of former president George W. Bush, which was published in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Capitalism and the Right to Rise.”
In lamenting the current state of economic freedoms, he writes, “Freedom of speech, for example, means that we put up with a lot of verbal and visual garbage in order to make sure that individuals have the right to say what needs to be said, even when it is inconvenient or unpopular.
We forgive the sacrifices of free speech because we value its blessings.
“But when it comes to economic freedom, we are less forgiving of the cycles of growth and loss, of trial and error, and of failure and success that are part of the realities of the marketplace and life itself. Increasingly, we have let our elected officials abridge our own economic freedoms through the annual passage of thousands of laws and their associated regulations.
“We see human tragedy and we demand a regulation to prevent it. We see a criminal fraud and we demand more laws. We see an industry dying and we demand it be saved. Each time, we demand, ‘Do something... anything.’” Bush hit the nail on the head. A few days ago, I got a letter (sent in a Knesset envelope – at taxpayers’ expense) from a Knesset member who will remain nameless. He writes about how much of an impact he has made in 2011, and all the laws that he authored or co-authored, assuming that the sheer quantity, by definition, has greatly added to Israeli society. Could it be that he actually has harmed the very people he is claiming to have helped? Maybe the best thing our elected officials could do is do nothing and stop interfering in our quest for a better life, both individually and for society in general.
The right to rise This is a term started by US Congressman Paul Ryan.
The point is that governments should create a landscape that breeds success. How does this apply to Israel? Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz should stop pandering to those who believe in equality of outcome; rather, they should create a system that allows people to be the best that they can be.
In the words of Bush, “We either can go down the road we are on, a road where the individual is allowed to succeed only so much before being punished with ruinous taxation, where commerce ignores government action at its own peril and where the state decides how a massive share of the economy’s resources should be spent. Or we can return to the road we once knew and which has served us well: a road where individuals acting freely and with little restraint are able to pursue fortune and prosperity as they see fit, a road where the government’s role is not to shape the marketplace, but to help prepare its citizens to prosper from it.”
Bethel Finance news:
Last week, I wrote about how the “so-called” middleclass tax cut is going to cause damage to both the Israeli economy as well as to those in the lower and middle classes. Now it seems like the Finance Ministry, led by Yuval Steinitz, is trying to outdo itself by dramatically increasing the taxes on luxury cars and apartments.
My gut tells me that this is only the beginning as more and more Trajtenberg committee recommendations are enacted. Measures to disincentivize job-creators, as well as those trying to climb the socioeconomic ladder, is sure to backfire by stifling capital investment and adding to the unemployment rolls.
The ultra-rich like Nochi Dankner and Shari Arison will be able to use their battery of accountants and lawyers to figure out ways to shelter their money. It’s the small and mid-sized business owners that just saw their corporate taxes increase. If they are fortunate enough to make a profit, the money that they take out of their businesses as a dividend will be taxed at a higher rate as well.
Redistributing wealth from the rich to the less fortunate doesn’t really help the less fortunate. What helps them the most is a job and incentives to invest, so that they can be enabled to do what it takes to grow their net worth and exit the poverty cycle they are relegated to. If Daphni Leef and her protesters have their way, those in lower income levels have little chance of ever escaping their current economic conditions. No society has ever been taxed into prosperity.
Required Reading Before any more damage is done, I urge the local policymakers to read the defense of capitalism penned by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the brother of former president George W. Bush, which was published in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Capitalism and the Right to Rise.”
In lamenting the current state of economic freedoms, he writes, “Freedom of speech, for example, means that we put up with a lot of verbal and visual garbage in order to make sure that individuals have the right to say what needs to be said, even when it is inconvenient or unpopular.
We forgive the sacrifices of free speech because we value its blessings.
“But when it comes to economic freedom, we are less forgiving of the cycles of growth and loss, of trial and error, and of failure and success that are part of the realities of the marketplace and life itself. Increasingly, we have let our elected officials abridge our own economic freedoms through the annual passage of thousands of laws and their associated regulations.
“We see human tragedy and we demand a regulation to prevent it. We see a criminal fraud and we demand more laws. We see an industry dying and we demand it be saved. Each time, we demand, ‘Do something... anything.’” Bush hit the nail on the head. A few days ago, I got a letter (sent in a Knesset envelope – at taxpayers’ expense) from a Knesset member who will remain nameless. He writes about how much of an impact he has made in 2011, and all the laws that he authored or co-authored, assuming that the sheer quantity, by definition, has greatly added to Israeli society. Could it be that he actually has harmed the very people he is claiming to have helped? Maybe the best thing our elected officials could do is do nothing and stop interfering in our quest for a better life, both individually and for society in general.
The right to rise This is a term started by US Congressman Paul Ryan.
The point is that governments should create a landscape that breeds success. How does this apply to Israel? Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz should stop pandering to those who believe in equality of outcome; rather, they should create a system that allows people to be the best that they can be.
In the words of Bush, “We either can go down the road we are on, a road where the individual is allowed to succeed only so much before being punished with ruinous taxation, where commerce ignores government action at its own peril and where the state decides how a massive share of the economy’s resources should be spent. Or we can return to the road we once knew and which has served us well: a road where individuals acting freely and with little restraint are able to pursue fortune and prosperity as they see fit, a road where the government’s role is not to shape the marketplace, but to help prepare its citizens to prosper from it.”
Bethel Finance: Fischer rebuffs bank nationalization claims
www.bethelfinance.com
Bethel Finance news:
It was at 2 a.m. on a flight to New York. I was very impressed by him,” Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer told the Knesset Finance Committee, which was discussing the so-called “Marani Law” on Wednesday. Fischer angrily rebuffed Eliahu’s charge that he was effectively nationalizing the banks.
The Marani Law – which is officially titled, “Amendment 13 to the Banking (Licensing) Law (5741-1981)” – regulates a bank with no controlling core. Amendment 13, which was passed in 2004, stipulates that the Bank of Israel must approve a holding of more than 5 percent in a bank.
Shlomo Eliahu is the largest private shareholder in Bank Leumi, with an 11% stake, which he was allowed to keep under a special permit, on the condition that he would not use his extra holding to try to win control of the bank.
“We’re not discussing the Eliahu law; he is not just another person, and there will be more banks without a controlling core,” Fischer added.
“This law is intended to deal with other banks, not Bank Leumi.
It’s quite sexy to say ‘nationalization,’ but this bank belongs to its shareholders, who receive profits.
So please stop saying ‘nationalization.’ There is no nationalization here. The bank does not belong to the state.”
Earlier, Eliahu told the finance committee, “The Bank of Israel’s job is to maintain the stability of the banks. So what are you doing, letting the regulator appoint the board of directors? That’s nationalization.
The problem isn’t Bank Leumi or Shlomo Eliahu. It’s unacceptable that the owners have no rights.”
“This law was never applied. We don’t know what is wrong and what is right. Now the government comes along and wants to make a fix. I don’t understand. This isn’t a law against Eliahu, but a law that takes away rights. They’re telling shareholders who invested the best of their money that they don’t [have] the right to nominate a candidate for director,” Eliahu continued.
“They’re telling us, ‘You’re not worthy to nominate candidates,’ even though the governor has the final authority to approve or reject the candidate. If the candidate is unacceptable, he’s not approved.
So what are you going to change? There cannot be a situation in which we invest the best of our money but cannot appoint people,” he concluded.
Fischer also said that the Finance Ministry had concluded that it was necessary to change the way bank directors were appointed, “so that the directors would work for the good of the shareholders, rather than the majority shareholders.”
As for the criticism about government intervention, Fischer said, “If a bank is not being managed properly, the government will have to do something in the end. We saw what happened in 1983. So it’s very nice to say that the government hasn’t put in a shekel. It sounds nice, but there is also a greater interest in management of the bank, because if there is no money to repay deposits, the state will have to do something. That is why it is our duty to be certain that the method of electing directors is for the good of all.”
Bethel Finance news:
It was at 2 a.m. on a flight to New York. I was very impressed by him,” Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer told the Knesset Finance Committee, which was discussing the so-called “Marani Law” on Wednesday. Fischer angrily rebuffed Eliahu’s charge that he was effectively nationalizing the banks.
The Marani Law – which is officially titled, “Amendment 13 to the Banking (Licensing) Law (5741-1981)” – regulates a bank with no controlling core. Amendment 13, which was passed in 2004, stipulates that the Bank of Israel must approve a holding of more than 5 percent in a bank.
Shlomo Eliahu is the largest private shareholder in Bank Leumi, with an 11% stake, which he was allowed to keep under a special permit, on the condition that he would not use his extra holding to try to win control of the bank.
“We’re not discussing the Eliahu law; he is not just another person, and there will be more banks without a controlling core,” Fischer added.
“This law is intended to deal with other banks, not Bank Leumi.
It’s quite sexy to say ‘nationalization,’ but this bank belongs to its shareholders, who receive profits.
So please stop saying ‘nationalization.’ There is no nationalization here. The bank does not belong to the state.”
Earlier, Eliahu told the finance committee, “The Bank of Israel’s job is to maintain the stability of the banks. So what are you doing, letting the regulator appoint the board of directors? That’s nationalization.
The problem isn’t Bank Leumi or Shlomo Eliahu. It’s unacceptable that the owners have no rights.”
“This law was never applied. We don’t know what is wrong and what is right. Now the government comes along and wants to make a fix. I don’t understand. This isn’t a law against Eliahu, but a law that takes away rights. They’re telling shareholders who invested the best of their money that they don’t [have] the right to nominate a candidate for director,” Eliahu continued.
“They’re telling us, ‘You’re not worthy to nominate candidates,’ even though the governor has the final authority to approve or reject the candidate. If the candidate is unacceptable, he’s not approved.
So what are you going to change? There cannot be a situation in which we invest the best of our money but cannot appoint people,” he concluded.
Fischer also said that the Finance Ministry had concluded that it was necessary to change the way bank directors were appointed, “so that the directors would work for the good of the shareholders, rather than the majority shareholders.”
As for the criticism about government intervention, Fischer said, “If a bank is not being managed properly, the government will have to do something in the end. We saw what happened in 1983. So it’s very nice to say that the government hasn’t put in a shekel. It sounds nice, but there is also a greater interest in management of the bank, because if there is no money to repay deposits, the state will have to do something. That is why it is our duty to be certain that the method of electing directors is for the good of all.”
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