Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., January 09, 2009 Tevet 13, 5769 | | Israel Time: 02:35 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Joy of Giving Travel Week's End Anglo File

Markets in Brief Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands denies the report in TheMarker that it will exchange stock to buy 35 acres on the Las Vegas Strip. The property is owned by Yitzhak Tshuva and Nochi Dankner, who plan to build a casino resort modeled after the Plaza Hotel in New York. Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Lerner said in a note to investors that such a deal would put Sands in a position of issuing more stock for a future project when it already has had trouble financing projects in its pipeline. Elad IDB, which owns the land that used to be home to the New Frontier hotel-casino, has said it will not break ground until sometime next year. (AP) A year and a half after winning a Finance Ministry tender to provide banking services to civil servants, Discount Bank says it has enrolled 51,000 clients from the public sector. The bank provides them with services such as special rates on loans. Also, after Bank Otsar Hahayal (which belongs to First International Bank these days) won a tender to provide loans to defense-system employees, Discount says, it sweetened its offering to this pool of potential clients as well. It didn't mention how many of those it had recruited. (Sharon Shpurer) Advertisement Visa CAL is partnering with Avihai Stolero's Psagot Public Financing by buying a stake in the company for a million shekels. The deal involves PPF's enterprise systems, and hiring its workers, too. PPF engages in factoring, which is market argot for "non-bank lending to small businesses." Visa CAL will own 75% of the business and PPF will retain the other 25%. Visa CAL has undertaken to provide NIS 200 million in funding for factoring. (Yuval Maoz) Delek Real Estate announced yesterday that it bought back NIS 5.7 million worth of its bonds, acting through subsidiary Delek Belron International. Altogether Belron has bought back NIS 12 million worth of Series B4 Delek Real Estate bonds so far. (TheMarker) After instituting various efficiency measures from logistics to procurement to production, Oil Refineries is lowering executive pay. Chairman Yossi Rosen, chief executive Mordechay Ben-Yashar, directors and others will forgo 10% of their gross. Ben-Yashar's wage cost was NIS 2.5 million in 2007 and Rosen's was NIS 1.5 million, though he only came on board in June that year. The company says the cutbacks are necessary to ensure it can proceed with its strategic plan, which involves investments of $1.1 billion over five years. Layoffs do not loom, promises Oil Refineries, a subsidiary of The Israel Corporation, though it eradicated its Business Development and Capital Market division, handing out its work to other departments. Oil Refineries does plan to scale back work by subcontractors. (Nathan Sheva) Institutional investors are pressing private equity funds run by Markstone, Fortissimo and FIMI to lower the management fees they charge by 10% to 15%. Markstone and FIMI have yet to respond to the demand. A source close to Markstone says the acquiescence of the company's foreign investors has to be obtained first, which will take time. The venture capital fund Vertex also received a request to lower its fees. It isn't going to. Among the funds reportedly lowering fees is Pontifax, the life sciences vehicle of Teva and Eli Hurvitz. Pontifax isn't saying anything officially. But as a source at the fund put it, "Nobody called, but you can't not lower management fees when we're demanding that our [portfolio] companies cut back." (Guy Grimland) Yaron Tchwella is taking over as CEO at Bluephoenix, which modernizes outdated computer systems. Arik Kilman will move from the CEO's seat after five years to take over as executive chairman. These appointments are effective immediately. "We enter 2009 in excellent financial position, with a market opportunity that is still growing, and an ever-improving business proposition for our customers. Our balance sheet is at its strongest level in our history," Kilman said. (Nir Zalik) Moody's yesterday affirmed Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' debt rating and upgraded Barr Laboratories, the acquisition of which Teva closed this week. Teva keeps its investment-grade Baa2 rating, reports Forbes. The credit rating agency upgraded Barr's unsecured debt rating by one notch to Baa2 because it's now backed by its giant Israeli parent. The outlook for both is stable, Moody's said. (TheMarker) It turns out that Migdal wasn't the only one to smell a rat in Bernard Madoff's fund. Credit Suisse began advising clients to avoid him eight years ago, Bloomberg reports. Like Migdal, the Swiss bank couldn't figure out just how Madoff was making money, even after meeting with him. (TheMarker) Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fallen hero Relatives mourn Maj. Roey Rosner, 27, killed Wednesday by Gaza militants. On the northern front Hezbollah denies responsibility for two rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon.

Read & React Red Cross: Israel breaking int'l law, letting children starve in Gaza Responses: 114 Two Lebanon rockets hit North; Hezbollah denies involvment Responses: 68 Yossi Melman: Excellent intel on Gaza shows Israel learned from Lebanon errors Responses: 21 Yoav Stern: Rocket fire on North may be realization of Iran threat Responses: 25 Gideon Lichfield: So, why isn't Israel winning the PR war? Responses: 74 More Headlines 23:04 Third IDF soldier killed in Gaza over past 24 hours 22:37 Draft UN Security Council resolution doesn't call for immediate Gaza truce 02:23 Report: Obama ready to talk to Hamas after taking office 02:24 'This country exists because of people like him' 22:35 Israel to present complaint to UN over Lebanon rocket fire 01:24 European Jews to hold rallies supporting Israel's Gaza offensive 22:10 'I pray that he will watch over us, he died a hero' 22:38 At least two Lebanon rockets hit north Israel; Hezbollah denies involvment 02:06 UN: Army admitted school shelling was by mistake 18:20 Get up to the minute coverage of the warfare in Gaza directly to your email 22:05 IDF Chief of Staff Ashkenazi tours Gaza battlefields 23:11 WATCH: Olmert spokesman says Israel never sought war in Gaza 18:12 ANALYSIS / Rocket fire on North may be realization of Iran threat 19:57 UN says halting aid to Gaza, citing danger to staff from IDF 15:01 ANALYSIS / Excellent intel on Gaza shows Israel learned from its errors in Lebanon 19:07 Palestinians: 35 found dead in rubble of Gaza battle zone 17:07 Olmert: IDF has not yet achieved all its goals in Gaza offensive 20:35 WATCH: U.S. Senate voices strong support for Israel's Gaza battle against Hamas 18:53 Sarkozy: Halt to arms smuggling is key to Gaza cease-fire 16:08 Red Cross: Israel breaking int'l law, letting children starve in Gaza 21:49 Iran bans volunteer suicide bombers from traveling to Israel 17:18 Palestinian shot dead after trying to blow up settlement gas station Previous Editions Select Day 08 jan 07 jan 06 jan 05 jan 04 jan 02 jan 01 jan 31 dec 30 dec 29 dec 28 dec 26 dec

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