Clalit HMO to enter market for senior protected housing
The Clalit health maintenance organization is entering the market for protected housing for seniors. Over the last few weeks the HMO has been intensively exploring sites for three projects: in Petah Tikva, in the north of the country and in the south. Until now, Clalit has not been part of the growing market, while its biggest rival, Maccabi, is a major player, with six sites and 728 units operating under the Bayit B'Lev name. Meuhedet operates six protected housing sites under the name Neveh Amit. In 2010, only 2% of all people over age 65 lived in protected housing, some 15,000 people, according to Dun & Bradstreet. But demand is growing as Israel's population ages. (Ronny Linder-Ganz )
TAU establishing $5 million high tech center
Tel Aviv University's management faculty will be the home of a new center for the study of high technology enterprise and innovation. "Our goal is to become a magnet, the leading center for everything connected to start-ups and technological innovation, with the aim of gathering global research, not just Israeli," Prof. Moshe Zviran, vice dean of the Faculty of Management, told TheMarker. Jeremy Coller, a partner in the private equity firm Coller Capital, has made a $5 million donation to launch the center. The center intends to double or triple the success rate of start-ups and to increase their value by exploring models for investment at various stages of a start-up's life. (Inbal Orpaz)
Bank of Israel finds most Trajtenberg proposals have been adopted
A preliminary assessment by the Bank of Israel has found that most recommendations by the Trajtenberg committee for socioeconomic change have been adopted since it published its report in September. Among 117 recommendations, the central bank said 68, or 58%, had been adopted by the cabinet and the Knesset, among them free preschool day care and a cancellation of scheduled tax cuts. Another 12 are being studied by a government panel, which is ordinarily done in the case of complicated proposals, not necessarily as a delaying tactic. Only two Trajtenberg recommendations were categorically rejected and only one of them partially, the Bank of Israel said. Another 21 were never discussed, effectively meaning they were rejected. (Meirav Arlosoroff )
