(Last updated: 2 Apr 2011)

Trends and opportunities

The market

Israel is now considered a developed industrial market and is currently in the final stages of acceptance into the OECD organisation (expected to occur before the end of 2010).

As of 2009, the local investment funds industry manages more than A$36 billion annually. The total monetary value of financial assets owned by Israeli citizens reached A$0.6 trillion. About 17 per cent of this amount was invested in stocks (equities).

The Israeli venture capital industry is larger than any other single European nation. In 2009, the 11 most active Israeli venture capital funds managed investment capital worth more than A$6.6 billion.

The total market capitalisation of Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) stands at around A$216 billion in equities and an additional A$200 billion in bonds (corporate and government).

As of December of 2008:

• The total value of pension funds, provincial funds and mutual life insurance was worth about A$195 billion.
• The total value of bank deposits owned by the Israeli public was worth about A$207 billion.
• The total outwards investment portfolio value of Israeli citizens reached more than A$15 billion. Out of this total amount, about A$2.3 billion was in financial instruments (equities, bonds, etc.) outside the country.

Conferences/events

DC Finance is a private company specialising in organising financial events/conferences in Israel. For more information on upcoming events visit www.dcf.co.il/eng/calendar.asp.

Opportunities

Opportunities for Australian companies include:

• Attracting Israeli investment funds, insurance companies, pension funds, investment banks and other asset managers interested in exploring opportunities in Australia.
• Joint cooperation with the Israeli venture capital industry.
• IPO services (eg. ASX) for Israeli companies with significant activity in Australia interested in raising capital.
• Australian funding for large public/private enterprise public works and infrastructure projects.

Competitive environment

The relevant players and leading local companies:

• Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
• Capital Markets, Insurance and Saving Division, Israel Ministry of Finance
• Bank of Israel
• Bank Leumi – one of the top two commercial banks
• Bank Hapoalim – one of the top two commercial banks
• Migdal Holding – one of the top two insurance companies
• Clal Insurance – one of the top two insurance companies
• Psagot Group – largest investment house in Israel
• Pitango – largest venture capital fund in the country
• New Mivtachim – largest pension fund in the country

Contact details

The Australian Trade Commission – Austrade – is the Australian Government’s trade and investment development agency.

Through Austrade’s network of offices in over 50 countries, we assist Australian companies to succeed in international business, attract productive foreign direct investment into Australia and promote Australia's education sector internationally.

For more information on how Austrade can assist you, contact us on:

Australia ph: 13 28 78 | Email: info@austrade.gov.au

A list of Austrade offices (in alphabetical order of country) is also available.

Sources

Bank of Israel – www.bankisrael.gov.il/firsteng.htm
D&B – www.dbisrael.co.il/english/index.asp
Funder Ltd.
Israel Venture Capital Research Center – www.ivc-online.com/
Israeli Ministry of Finance – http://ozar.mof.gov.il/englishframe.htm
Ma’ariv Daily Newspaper – www.nrg.co.il/
‘The Marker’ Daily Newspaper – www.themarker.com/
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange – www.tase.co.il/TASEEng/Homepage.htmb