General News Summary

Olmert Resigns

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert handed a letter of resignation to President Shimon Peres on September 21, but will stay on in office as the head of a caretaker government until a new cabinet is formed, most likely by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the new leader of the Kadima party.

Olmert kept his promise to resign immediately after Kadima's primaries for a successor, held on September 17. His close to three years in office had been marked by criticism of his management during the Second Lebanon War, which broke out a few months after he took office, and a series of allegations and investigations referring to the time when he was, successively, mayor of Jerusalem; minister of trade, industry and labor, long before becoming prime minister. The prosecution and police have tried hard to nail him on array of issues, some appear to be ludicrous. No official indictment was presented.

Tzipi Livni – Kadima's New Leader

Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz won't be Kadima's next leader. But although the former defense minister lost the party's September 17 primary election to select a successor to resigning Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, he appears to have won the spotlight. After his loss by the margin of 1.1%, 43.1% for Livni, 42% for Mofaz, the ex-general and former chief of staff stunned everyone by stating he was taking a leave from public service. It took less than a week before the media reported of his alleged indication for a return.

The move to take a break increased Livni's complications to become Israel's first female prime minister since the legendary Golda Meir in the 1970s. First, it left Kadima without a public "defense expert" in its highest echelon. Mofaz filled an important role in the party founded by Ariel Sharon in 2005, which eventually brought to power Ehud Olmert in early 2006.

Quitting after the loss of a crucial election seems to be something of a fashion in Israel over the last decade. Benjamin Netanyahu did it in 1999, after losing the prime ministership to Ehud Barak. Less than two years later, Barak quit after being trounced by Ariel Sharon. "Retirement," however, turned out to be no more than a short strategic retreat for ex-military men, who are now back in as leaders of their respective Likud and Labor parties.

Why did Livni win? The answer may be a combination of several factors: Mofaz perceived right wing policies; Israel's general tilt to the right; questions in respect to his failures to prepare the army for the Second Lebanon War as defense minister, a post he held until about two months prior to the fighting that broke out in July 2006. Some observers explain Mofaz's strong showing in the actual count he ran far ahead of predictions in the polls, on his efficient campaign and what some describe as an old-fashioned control of the "party machine," reinforced by "foreign aid" from American conservative funding supporters.

The first task for Livni is forming a new coalition. The ultra-Orthodox Shas, the third largest coalition partner after Livni's Kadima and the Labor party, seems to present tough to stay on, unless its demands for larger government payments to large families are met. This is a concession that seems unlikely unless it will be moderated, at least on its face, considering the prospects of falling government revenues triggered by the economic international slowdown affecting Israel slightly as well as the rest of the world. Nor will it be easy for Labor, whose leader Ehud Barak belittled Livni in public just a few weeks earlier and appears now to swallow its pride and stay on in a government she heads.

The choice for the Gil, aka as the "Pensioners Party" is more simple. New elections certainly mean the disappearance of the party, which won seven Knesset seats in 2006, its first election try. And indeed party leader Rafi Eitan, a former brave and creative "Mossad" leader, took less than 48 hours before declaring his Party's intentions to stay in the new Livni government.

Olmert formally tendered his resignation to President Shimon Peres on Sunday, September 21, as he promised to do. After consultations with all the parties represented in the Knesset, Peres asked Livni to form the new government. She will have 42 days, and then another 42-day extension, to do so, with Olmert remaining on at the head of a transitional government. If she fails to form such a coalition, new elections will be called, to be held within three months.

Forming a government, though, is one of the two options open to Livni, 50. She can either form a new government coalition now, stay in office until the end of its term in November 2010 and run on her own record as prime minister, or take advantage of her current high level of popularity in the general public and call elections right away. After the Kadima vote had been counted, she said that would welcome elections, even as early 2009.

Labor, whose leader Ehud Barak has belittled Livni's ability to lead in a crisis situation, faces a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't dilemma. It can either eat Barak's words and join a Livni coalition, or it can bolt, effectively forcing new elections in which it, according to the polls, would be decimated. Barak can choose between two potential humiliations: The embarrassment of supporting a prime minister he already said isn't qualified, or the shame of seeing its current parliamentary representation cut in an election. As it appears when this report was written – Labor will join Livni's government.

Meanwhile Likud opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who wishes elections to be conducted now, sits on the sidelines waiting for the situation in the other camp to clarify itself. Current public opinion surveys make him a favorite if the voters do go to the polls right now. But in Israel, where political fortunes do change almost overnight, anything can happen – and often does.

Gas Supply

Israel Electric Corp. resumed purchases of natural gas from the Israeli Yam Thetis offshore fields in early September, after Egypt cut off its supply to Israel. Sources in Jerusalem said the Egyptians, hard-pressed to supply all their clients, chose to cut back its supply for its neighbors, including Israel, some of which pay especially low prices for the fuel.

Israel's Egyptian gas comes via EMG, an Israeli-Egyptian consortium whose principals include Israeli Yossi Maiman, via a $470M, 100-km. pipeline from the Sinai desert to Ashkelon, on Israel's southern coast. Gas began to flow in May of this year, under terms of an umbrella agreement signed by the Egyptian and Israeli governments, and a 15-year $2B commercial contract between IEC and EMG.

According to Ha'aretz, opposition has risen in Egypt to the relatively low price Israel pays for gas. The paper said there had been a series of dramatic, top-secret meetings regarding the volume of supply and proposals to change the IEC-EMG contract. Behind the imbroglio, Ha'aretz quoted Israeli energy sources as saying, is that Egypt doesn't have the production capacity to supply its own consumption of gas and its contractual obligations to clients.

 

The Economy

Unemployment – Lowest Since 1984

Unemployment declined to 5.9% in the second quarter of 2008, the lowest level since 1994, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. The number of employed rose to 2.771 million, up 3.4% from the previous quarter.

Local Economy Still Optimistic

On the basis of Israel's unexpectedly positive macroeconomic data for the first half of 2008, including an annualized 5.3% GDP growth rate for the first half of 2008, Merrill Lynch raised its 2008 GDP growth forecast from 3.5% to 4.4%, but cut its prediction for 2009 from 4.0% to 2.9%. Merill Lynch said that Israel "has so far proved resilient to the liquidity crunch, higher risk aversion and weakening global macro backdrop owing to its strong fundamentals, the home bias of its large portfolio of investments and its relatively under-owned markets. But we expect the headwinds to be stronger in the near term."

The prediction was made before news broke about the Lehman Bros bankruptcy. The actual effect of will be known only after the terms of the exposure by firms holding Lehman securities learned, Israeli experts noted, while estimating the holdings at hundreds of millions of dollars. The Treasury, however, called the effect of the Lehman crash on Israel "insignificant." A bright spot, one source said, was that the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America would prevent additional losses.

At this time, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On said in a speech, it is especially important to avoid large increases in the budget being prepared for 2009. It was vital, he said, to continue reduction of the public-debt-to-GDP ratio from the current 80% to 58% by 2015. The public-debt-to-GDP ratio of over 100% in 2003, said Bar-On, would have made financing the 2006 Second Lebanon War infinitely more difficult.

Olympic Business

Israeli business firms had contracts worth about $300M at the Beijing Olympics, according to an estimate from Israel's Manufacturers Association. This included a $180M contract for satellite communications from Israel Aerospace Industries, and over $5M worth of acoustic plastic panels from Palrom to line the approach roads to the Olympic village.

Samsung Leads in Local Mobile Phone Market

Samsung has passed Nokia as the leading seller of cellphones in Israel, according to a report in Globes. The Korean firm's handsets accounted for 28% of sales of the devices in the first half of 2008, ahead of competitors Nokia, the former leader, Motorola and Ericsson.

Exports Up

Despite the global slowdown, Israel's exports of goods increased at an annualized rate of 22.9% in June-August, and 27% since the start of 2008, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported in early September. High technology exports, the engine of growth of the Israeli economy, climbed at an annualized rate of 18.2% in June-August, while mixed high-tech exports increased by an annualized 33.4% for the period.

The CBS also said that, due to the drop in worldwide oil prices, Israel's trade deficit had fallen for the first time since January 2007. The deficit, which does not include diamonds, ships and aircraft, amounted to $1.2B for the period.

Inflation Also Up

Israel's CPI rose by 0.8% in August, the highest August rise since 1995, according to the CBS. For the 12 months from September 2007 to August 2008, Israeli inflation was 5%.

Tata Software Partnership

Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) of India, a global leader in interactive e-learning and workforce management, has signed a cooperation agreement with eglue of Ein Shemer in Israel. The Israeli software firm provides interactive solutions for customers in real time.

2 Million Tourists

About 2 million tourists arrived in Israel in the first eight months of 2008, the CBS reported in early September. The figure represents a 37% rise over 2007's January-August arrivals, and exceeded the 1.86 million tourists in all of 2006.

 

Mergers & Acquisitions

Carl Zeiss-Pixer

Carl Zeiss of Jena, Germany, said in mid-August that it is acquiring Pixer Technology of Carmiel, in the Galilee, a developer of yield-enhancement systems for photomasks in semiconductor production. According to a joint announcement, Pixer will be integrated into Zeiss's Semiconductor Metrology Systems Division. The purchase price for Pixer, which is three years old and has 30 employees, was not announced, but The Market, the Ha'aretz newspaper business section, estimated it at $70M.

Leeds Equity Partners-Ex Libris

Jerusalem-based Ex Libris has been sold by U.S.-based investment fund Francisco Partners to another American fund, Leeds Equity Partners, for an estimated $170M. Francisco had paid just $62M for the company in 2006. Ex Libris developed a suite of library automation solutions for academic, research and national libraries. Leeds Equity Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, manages the largest equity fund focused on investing in education, training and related business services and information industries.

Monsanto-Evogene

Monsanto Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, a world leader in seed production, will purchase 13.6% of the shares of Evogene, an agricultural biotechnology firm based in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv. The deal also includes a Monsanto option on an additional 12% of the Israeli company, milestone fees to be paid if the joint venture reaches certain goals, and a $30M R&D agreement. Under the terms of the pact, Evogene's computational platform will seek to identify key plant genes related to yield, fertilizer utilization and environmental stress, while Monsanto will get exclusive licensing rights to the genes in a number of crops, including canola, cotton, corn and soybeans, towards its goal of doubling yields in these core crops by 2030. A previous Monsanto-Evogene agreement, in September 2007, dealt with improved efficiency of nitrogen use in the same four crops.

Samsung Eyes Sandisk, the Later Board Rejects $5.8B

South Korea's Samsung, the world's largest maker of flash-memory chips, said in early September that it is considering the purchase of California-based flash memory specialist SanDisk. Samsung currently pays SanDisk about $500M a year in flash-memory patent royalties. SanDisk has a double Israeli angle: Its founder and chairman, Eli Harari, is an expatriate Israeli who moved to the U.S. and founded the company in California. In 2006 SanDisk, which previously maintained an Israeli operation at Tefen in the Galilee, not far from the Lebanese border, acquired Israel's M-Systems, which developed the Disk-on-Key portable jump drive memory devices and which was run by Harari's good friend Dov Moran, for $1.55BB.

In mid-September, the SanDisk board reportedly rejected a $5.8B Samsung offer for the California company.

Orbotech-Photon Dynamics

Shareholders of Photon Dynamics approved a merger with Israel's Orbotech at an early-September special meeting in San Jose, California. The first announcement of the deal in late June said that Orbotech, based in Yavne south of Tel Aviv, which makes inspection equipment for printed circuit boards and flat-panel displays, would pay $290M for the California maker of testing equipment for the liquid crystal display (LCD) industry.

Red Hat-Qumranet

Linux operating system specialist Red Hat made its first Israeli acquisition in September, purchasing virtualization specialist Qumranet for a reported $107M. The Israeli firm's four founders, Benny Schnaider, Rami Tamir, Moshe Tamir and Giora Yaron, are well-known serial tech entrepreneurs involved in a number of successful exits including PentaCom and P-Cube, acquired by Cisco Systems for a combined $318M. Qumranet specializes in "server-side desktop virtualization," or hosting PC virtual machines on an enterprise's servers.

Fortissimo-Stink

Fortissimo Acquisitions, an Israeli investment company, has purchased British-based Stink Ltd. for $32.9M in cash and shares. Earlier this year, Fortissimo bought PsyOp of the U.S. for $29M. The two companies will be operated as a global production and digital content firm, focusing on animation, visual effects and mixed media for the advertising market. Globes described Fortissimo as a "blank check company" designed to invest in general opportunities without any specific mandated direction: Fortissimo describes itself as "a vehicle to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition or other similar business combination with an operating business that has operations or facilities located in Israel, or that is a company operating outside of Israel which management believes would benefit from establishing operations or facilities in Israel."

Connect2media-Rayfusion

Connect2Media, the recently formed London-based provider of games and services across various platforms including mobile phones, interactive TV and the Internet, in early September acquired Israeli firm RayFusion, a global provider of content for the mobile phone industry. Terms of the deal for RayFusion, which will continue to operate as an independent, Israel-based entity, were not announced.

Tower-Jazz

Shareholders of Jazz Technologies of Newport Beach, California, on September 17 approved the producer of analogy-intensive mixed-signal foundry solutions with Tower Semiconductors of Migdal Ha'emek, in northern Israel. At the time it was reached, the share-swap deal would have been worth about $40M to Jazz shareholders; in mid-September, after Tower shares had declined by over 55%, the deal was valued at $17M. Jazz chairman Russell Ellwanger said the combined company's goals were to increase Tower's pre-merger revenues fourfold, and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBDITA) by a multiple of seven.

Iscar, Israel-Tungaloy, Japan – Acquisition for $1B

Iscar Ltd., the maker of precision machine cutting tools based in Tefen, in the Western Galilee not far from the Lebanese border, has completed a $1B purchase of Tungaloy of Japan, a maker of drilling and milling tools founded in 1934. The deal was the largest ever acquisition of a Japanese company by an Israeli one. Iscar, founded and managed by the Wertheimer family, was taken over by U.S. mega investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, which paid $4B for an 80% interest in 2006.

 

Aerospace & Defense

Radar Agreement

U.S. military personnel will man high-powered early-warning X-Band missile radar to be deployed in the Negev desert and linked to a U.S. satellite network, under the terms of an agreement reached in mid-August. A U.S. Missile Command spokesman said that the new system could double or even triple the range at which outgoing missiles could be spotted and identified, particularly applicable in the case of an Iranian missile launch against Israel. Defense News weekly said that the radar will be staffed by soldiers from the U.S. European Command, starting early next year. It will be the first time that U.S. soldiers have been permanently stationed in Israel, though some American military personnel had been temporarily posted to Israel around the time of the First Gulf War. According to an Israeli military expert quoted by Ha'aretz, the link with the American satellite system adds "precious minutes" to early-warning capacity.

A subsequent by reporters Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid of Ha'aretz made the picture seem appreciably less rosy. Hookup to the U.S. system, they noted, would limit Israel's freedom to act against Syria or Iran, pointing out that Israel would be required to get U.S. permission for such an attack since its carrying it out would expose U.S. personnel manning the station to danger. Benn and Ravid quoted senior Israeli defense officials as saying that they viewed the radar system as a signal of Washington's opposition to a unilateral Israeli strike on the Iranian nuclear capabilities.

India Deal Imminent

The long-delayed multi-billion-dollar Israeli-Indian arms deal appears to be finally moving ahead, according to a mid-August report in the Times of India. The newspaper anticipated signing "within a few weeks" after the deal, held up in an alleged scandal in India, was approved by New Delhi's Defense Acquisitions Council. Among the projects getting the go-ahead was a $1.5B project with IAI for an upgrade of the Barak surface-to-air missile, and a $270B purchase of the SpyDer air defense system from Rafael Defense Systems. The deals had been held up under the shadow of accusations that George Fernandes, India's former defense minister, had demanded over $100,000 in kickbacks in order to fix a tender for an anti-vessel missiles in IAI's favor. Both IAI and Fernandes vehemently denied the allegations, which the Indian former minister says were merely politically motivated.

IAI said it was unable to confirm that the deal had been reopened.

Arrow-3 Support

Agreement on U.S. support to the tune of $700-$800M for development of Israel's Arrow-3 anti-missile missile was reached during an early August visit by Gen. Henry Obering, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The Arrow-3, in early stages of development at IAI, is intended to help intercept incoming ballistic missiles at a greater range than the currently deployed Arrow-2 system. It is being designed to intercept missiles outside the atmosphere, at altitudes of up to 100 km.

Development of the Arrow-3, deemed crucial in the light of the Iranian missile and nuclear weapons programs, was considered doubtful after Raytheon of the U.S. suggested that the Pentagon and Congress finance development of its SM-3 Standard missile. Israeli sources point out that the Arrow-3, at $1.5-$2M per missile, would be much less costly than the $10-$12M per missile SM-3, that the Arrow has already been tested as an ABM, that the SM-3 is currently sea based, and that Arrow is a dedicated anti-ballistic missile while the SM-3 is used by the U.S. Navy against aircraft, ships and missiles threatening its warships.

From Russia, Into Orbit

Israel's Space-Communication Ltd. (Spacecom) has made an initial payment of $30M to Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems of the Krasnoyarsk Region for the $157M construction and launch of the Amos-5 communications satellite. The satellite, due to be launched in March 2011, is due to stay in orbit for 15 years. Amos-5 is the first Spacecom satellite to be built by a non-Israeli company. The four previous satellites, including Amos-3 launched from Russia's Baikonur spaceport in late April, were built by IAI.

'Smart' Mortar Shell

Israel Military Industries unveiled a new satellite-guided 120 mm mortar shell at an early-September press conference marking its

75th anniversary. The GPS-guided shell, in the final stages of development by IMI and Raytheon of the U.S., is claimed to have a range of 10 km. (about six miles) and accurate enough to hit targets with a radius of three meters. IMI President Avi Felder said that because the new shell was so accurate, military units would be able to carry fewer shells into battle. Feder noted that IMI expected total 2008 sales to reach $676M, compared to $575M in 2007.

Colombian Project

Antitrust Commissioner Ronit Kan has permitted IAI and Rafael, both government-owned companies, to collaborate in the bidding for a contract to upgrade four ships for the Colombian military. Details were not available, but the deal is said to be worth tens of millions of dollars. Earlier, Kan had permitted Rafael and the private Elbit Systems to cooperate on the South American project.

Elbit Profits

Second-quarter profits of Elbit Systems rose almost 40% to $653.2M, slightly above analysts' $645M projection. The company, which also owns El Op and Tadiran Communications, ended the quarter with an orders backlog of $5.05B.

Canadian Sale

IAI has won a $125 contract to supply Heron 2 and Heron TP unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Canada, according to a report in Calcalist, the economic supplement of Yediot Aharonot. UAVs worth $90M will be supplied till 2011, with an $35M option for additional aircraft in the following three years.

Boeing, Aussie Deals

Firms associated with Elbit Systems have won follow-up contracts with Boeing and the Australian Army. Vision Systems International LLC, a joint venture of Elbit and Rockwell Collins, will supply Boeing with its Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) for 145 F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft. The $17M contract includes dual-seat hardware, helmets and visors and other pilot equipment. At about the same time in early August, Elbit Systems received its third Australian Army order, worth "several million dollars," for Skylark-I mini-UAVs, a tactical system that can be carried by an infantryman. The initial order was placed by Australia in 2005.

 

Finance & Investment

Israel Chemicals Record Profits

Israel Chemicals registered record profits of $703M for the second quarter of 2008, 5.5 times the first quarter's $125.8M. Gross QII revenues were $2.08B, more than double the $963M of the first quarter. After the record profit statement, which exceeded analysts' predictions by 50%, ICL distributed $300M in dividends, the highest in the company's history.

Elbit Partners in India

Elbit Imaging, an international real estate operation, controlled by Israeli businessman Motti Zisser, says that its European subsidiary Plaza Centers will participate with it in a $126M Indian real estate venture. Plaza Centers, which has previously specialized in East European shopping centers and Elbit Imaging will each have 47.5% of the project, with Rami Goren, the Elbit VP responsible for the company's Indian operations, holding the remaining 5%. The group plans to acquire tracts in Bangalore, Chennai and Kochi, in Kerala, for the construction of combined residential-commercial-hotel projects.

India Mall Stake

Mondon Investments, a joint venture of three companies owned by Israeli businessman Eliezer Fishman, have agreed to purchase 50% of a shopping mall being developed in Ludhiana, India, according to a Bloomberg report published by the Jerusalem Post. A joint statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on September first said the three firms would invest about $30M to buy the interest and help finance the mall's construction. The six-story mall, with 156,000 square meters of floor space, is due to be completed in the second quarter of 2009.

Sigrun On Tase

India's Sigrun real estate firm has signed an agreement to purchase Shamir Food Industries, controlled by controversial Israeli businessman Arkadi Gaydamak for a reported $4-5M. Shamir, a shell company with no commercial activity, is intended to be a vehicle through which Sigrun can raise money in Israel for its Sigrun Mega Projects subsidiary, which is operating in the special economic zone near Mumbai. In early August Ha'aretz reported that Israel's Delek Real Estate was close to a 50-50 joint venture with Sigrun, in which the Indian firm would provide real estate valued at $550-$600M, and Delek would put in $100M a year until its investment equals that of Sigrun. According to the newspaper, Sigrun controlling owner Rajesh Nair, has predicted that the project will off returns of at least 40% over five years.

Gaydamak Selling

Israeli tycoon Arkadi Gaydamak, an expatriate Russian oligarch, has begun to sell off some of his Israeli holdings including Amad, which is a subsidiary of his Ocif Investments and Development, and three other companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Gaydamak has come under financial pressure, including a demand by Israel's Mizrahi Bank for repayment of a $245M loan made to finance his purchase of Ocif, which he planned to turn into an international real-estate holding company, in April 2007. Despite his retrenchment, the businessman showed no signs of intending to sell off his interest in Beitar Jerusalem, the Premier League soccer champion, or to entirely stop financial support for the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball club.

Vietnamese Venture

Engelinvest, Israeli businessman Yaakov Engel's 72%-owned real estate investment firm, announced plans to build 9,000 high-end apartments in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Total cost of the project, which is planned in several stages, is $1.1B. Work is expected to start next year on the first $450M stage, for about 400,000 square meters of a 700,00 sq. m. residential development in Ho Chi Minh City's District Two of the projects are to be built in partnership with Vietnamese banks, the third with a local Vietnamese developer.

Zisser Shifts Gears

Israeli businessman Motti Zisser of Elbit Medical, whose prime interest in India so far has been in real estate, is moving into the food business in the subcontinent. In addition to an already-announced $100M investments in the western Indian state of Gujarat, Yediot Aharonot says that Zisser has plans for fish ponds and poultry growing. The paper says that, given the growing world demand for food, India offers and opportunity because its existing methods of poultry and fish production are primitive.

Desalination Bidders

At least four consortia are submitting bids for Israel's fourth major seawater desalination plant, to be built at Soreq south of Tel Aviv. The four are a group headed by Housing and Construction, which is a subsidiary of the Arison interests that own Bank Hapoalim, which also includes General Electric; Israeli desalination specialist IDE Industries, jointly owned by the Israel Corp. and the Delek Group, together with Hutchinson Whampoa, the major shareholder in Israel's Partner (Orange) cellphone operator; the Azrieli Group, primarily known for its shopping mall operations in Israel, together with Israeli engineering firm Baran and a Spanish investor; and Tahal, a subsidiary of the Israeli-Dutch Kardan contracting firm, together with water specialists Veolia Environment of France. Other desalination plants are at Hadera, north of Tel Aviv, and Palmahim and Ashkelon, on the southern coast.

Water Move

The Arison Group, whose holdings include a controlling interest in Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest banks, has invested $100M in the formation of Miya, a firm dedicated to finding utility and municipal water-management solutions, particularly important since it is estimated that a third of the world's drinking water is lost through leaking pipes. Booky Oren, the former head of Israel's Mekorot water company, will be Miya's CEO.

High Technology

In Touch

N-Trig of Kfar Saba, in the high-tech belt northeast of Tel Aviv, expects revenues of $40-$45M this year and up to $100M in 2009 from its computer touch-screen technology. N-Trig's technology is used in the Multi Touch screens of Dell's new Latitude XT laptops and in Intel's new UrbanMax laptop platform. N-Trig says the technology, called DuoSense, is the only existing combined pen, touch and multi-touch interface available for mobile computers in a single device.

Harnessing the Wind

Ashot Ashkelon, a subsidiary IMI, will begin manufacturing wind-powered turbines for the generation of electricity, according to a report in Yediot Aharonot. The defense contractor estimates about $30M revenues from the new project, and Ashot Ashkelon GM Dan Katz predicts 17% annual growth in sales from the business, noting that the world wind-turbine market amounts to about $12B.

Alaska Purchase

A U.S. subsidiary of Israel's Ormat Industries has paid $3.3M for geothermal exploration rights on about 35,000 acres near Anchorage, Alaska. The specialist in geothermal electric power plants based in Yavne, acquired leases on Mount Spurr, a snowcapped 3,374-meter active volcano, 120 km west of Anchorage. Mount Spurr is in an active volcanic region. Ormat is also developing geothermal fields in Nevada and California.