Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., August 19, 2008 Av 18, 5768 | | Israel Time: 01:24 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Markets in Brief Foodmaker Osem Investments said yesterday that it has inked a pact to buy U.S.-based Tribe Mediterranean Foods, which develops and sells Mediterranean-style chilled salads in the U.S. and Canada. The deal includes Tribe's assets and plants, distribution network and property, inventory and everything, in short. Osem, which is controlled by Nestle, is paying $53.2 million at closing plus $1 million contingent on milestones. (TheMarker) ? Advertisement Heavy financing costs dragged Africa Israel Residences to a loss of NIS 3.5 million for the second quarter of 2008, even though revenues increased by 12.4% year over year to NIS 47.6 million. Cost of sales shot up by NIS 10 million, depressing its gross margin by 33% to NIS 8.5 million. As of the quarter's end, Africa Israel Residences was building 1,043 apartments and had plans to build 826 more. (Yuval Maoz) Medical technology company Brainsway, which is working on direct non-invasive activation of deep brain structures for therapeutic purposes, says it is making progress toward a private placement of equity. (TheMarker) The real estate company GTC netted NIS 87.5 million in the second quarter of 2008, it said, compared with netting NIS 19 million in the corresponding period of 2007. For the first half of 2008 it reported netting NIS 157 million, compared with losing NIS 67 million in the parallel six months of 2007. Revenues amounted to NIS 120.5 million, an increase of 48%. GTC, which operates mainly in eastern Europe and Asia, said that most of its revenues derived from rental income. (Yael Pollak) Generally, Bank Hapoalim predicts that second-quarter results will be weaker than the year before because of the subprime crisis. The risk level for local stocks remains high, which could weigh on the leading indexes. Bank Hapoalim therefore counsels investors to keep the proportion of stocks in their portfolios relatively low and to focus on defense stocks, such as (here it comes): telecommunications such as shares in Cellcom and Partner Communications, and energy, such as Paz Oil. (Yael Pollak) Can-Fite BioPharma says that its Japanese partner Seikagaku Corporation (SKK) will shortly begin Phase I testing in Japan, of CF101 as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. So far SKK has invested $6 million in Can-Fite, based on milestones. (Yael Pollak) ? Bank Leumi meanwhile likes Israel Chemicals and its parent company Israel Corporation, which were responsible for almost 40% of all turnover in Israeli stocks and convertible bonds. The bank notes that their intense volatility underscores their dependence on commodity prices: "There is a 93% correlation between ICL and the prices of agricultural commodity prices," Leumi wrote. It expects the intense volatility to continue, though. (Yael Pollak) Migdal is buying out Bear Stearns' half of Migdal Capital Markets for $70.3 million. Migdal already owns the other half, and will now own it all. The agreement was signed late last week. The Israel Securities Authority has approved the move, but the insurance company is awaiting the nod from antitrust commissioner Ronit Kan and Yadin Antebi, the supervisor of capital markets, insurance and savings at the treasury. (Tal Levy) The Midroog credit rating agency has placed egg products company Cham Foods on its watch list after the company announced an investment plan, to be carried out through a partnership half-owned by a Cham company. The investment in the partnership is estimated at $30 million, in equity and debt. Midroog wants to evaluate the impact of the investment plan on Cham's debt rating. (TheMarker) Qualitau, which makes electronic reliability testing products for integrated circuit manufacturers, has received two orders from a "leading Asian semiconductors company," worth a total of $2.35 million, for delivery by year's end. (TheMarker) Work on the Las Vegas Plaza, the multi-billion dollar casino palace planned by Nochi Dankner and Yitzhak Tshuva, has been postponed to 2009, the spokesman for Tshuva's company Elad Properties said last week. Back in March, Elad was predicting that construction, on the site of the demolished Frontier Hotel, would start this year. Building in Vegas has been slowing: A $3.5 billion project, the "Cosmopolitan Casino," just 2 kilometers from the future Plaza, also has been put off after the casino defaulted on a $760 million bank loan. (Nimrod Halpern) Bookmark to del.icio.us   A second chance Parents shocked to see their baby breathing moments before she was to be buried. Kafka the Zionist Remnants of Kafka's estate found in T.A. raise questions of his belief in Zionism.

Read & React Iran claims its new warplanes can reach Israel without refueling Responses: 219 Livni helps get Israeli ID card for daughter of top Palestinian official Responses: 52 Egypt to Hamas: Stop blocking Shalit deal Responses: 29 Editorial: Israel must do what it can to stay on Fatah's good side Responses: 26 Akiva Eldar: Israel can't survive on just military strength Responses: 27 Itamar Rabinovitch: Is Russia becoming the Iran of Europe? Responses: 26 More Headlines 23:45 Report: Syria test fires series of long-range missiles 01:20 Security officials voice mixed reactions to Iranian satellite launch 20:52 Israel publishes names of 199 Palestinian prisoners slated for release 01:06 Baby pronunced dead comes back to life minutes before burial 00:06 From Australia to Israel, on a footballing peace mission 22:38 Israel Factor: Panel doesn't worry about Obama on Israel-Palestine 00:28 IDF commander kept in post 3 months after accused of raping mentally challenged volunteer 17:21 Russian troops begin withdrawing from Georgia 23:47 IDF magazine: Soon wounded soldiers will be evacuated by unmanned vehicles 14:39 'Kafka's lifelong dream was to make aliyah' 19:40 In village with no power, Bedouin family fights to keep baby's respirator working 17:46 IDF troops foil smuggling of illicit drugs from Lebanon 21:32 Disabled Israeli turtle uses skateboard to get around Previous Editions Select Day 18 aug 17 aug 15 aug 14 aug 13 aug 12 aug 11 aug 10 aug 08 aug 07 aug 06 aug 05 aug

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