Israel Active

In another example of a large takeover by an Israeli company of a US firm, Israel’s Sapiens International has bought Denver-based StoneRiver Inc for around $102 million. Both IT companies focus on the Insurance industry.

Israel’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of March 2017 were just over $103 billion - an increase of $1,271 million from their level at the end of Feb. The reserves now represent 32.4 percent of GDP.

Immediately after my last newsletter, Intel bought Israeli vehicle safety and automation systems company Mobileye for just over $15 billion, which makes it the biggest ever exit in the history of Israel's high-tech industry. The company’s HQ will remain in Israel.

Ten airlines will begin operations at Ben Gurion Airport shortly, including Air India, Air Transat, WOW, Eurowings, Cobalt Air, Envelop, Yarmal and Pegas Fly. Wizz announced 3 more routes and Ryanair celebrated its first flight into Ben Gurion. 11 airlines will fly to France, Italy and Spain.

High points of the Bank of Israel Annual Report include good growth, low unemployment, low inflation, rising wages, low budget deficit and good tech exports, despite a high Shekel.

Deborah Weinswig, Managing Director of Fung Global Retail & Technology, took her team on a four-day innovation technology tour to Israel. She was impressed with the level of investment, tie-ups with multinationals and accelerators hosted by Adidas and GE.

I reported previously on the popularity of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) for Israeli companies to go public. ASX is now actively marketing its advantages over NASDAQ and London, both inside Israel and to Israeli delegations visiting Australia.

United Kingdom’s International Trade Minister, Lord Price, arrived in Israel for the first meeting of the new UK-Israel Trade Working Group, on the same day Britain chose to notify the European Union of its intention to leave.  Annual bilateral trade is currently worth around $6.2 billion.

Israel is Mexico’s biggest investor, after the USA, Spain and Germany.  Direct Investment in 2016 from Israeli ventures rose from $900 million to over $2 billion - beating Canada and Japan.

The numbers of passengers flying with Air Europa between Madrid and Tel Aviv have soared by 47% since January. The airline already added an extra flight in June last year and is now adding another two extra flights per week, using their new Boeing 787 Dreamliners on the route.