Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., March 03, 2009 Adar 7, 5769 | | Israel Time: 01:24 (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 The Tax Authority has lowered its tax revenues forecast for 2009 by NIS 30 billion, to NIS 173 billion. The initial estimate had been made last July, tax commissioner Yehuda Nasradishi explained at a Bar Association conference in Tel Aviv last week. The calculation was based on the economic data available at the time. Since then, the picture has changed dramatically for the worse. "But [predicting tax revenues] is like predicting the weather," Nasradishi added. Tax collection in 2008 fell NIS 6.5 billion short of the target, by the way. (Hila Raz) Teva Pharmaceutical Industries lost ground in the war over a herpes drug last week. A New Jersey court refused to toss out a willful patent infringement claim against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA or to grant the Israeli company's subsidiary a summary judgment in a patent dispute with rival Novartis over the genital herpes drug famcyclovir, sold under the brand name of Famvir. (TheMarker) Advertisement In another Teva setback, last Tuesday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected the Israeli company's motion to start selling a copycat version of Evista, an osteoporosis drug originally made by Eli Lilly. The appeals court upheld an Indiana verdict that banned Teva from starting sales of its generic version of the billion-dollar-a-year drug, which were supposed to start in November. Eli Lilly is suing Teva for patent infringement. (TheMarker) Beny Steinmetz's company Scorpio Real Estate has published a prospectus to list NIS 516 million worth of Series B1 corporate bonds on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The bonds, which were placed with institutional investors at the start of 2007, bear annual interest of 6.25% and are linked to the consumer price index. They are not backed by any collateral whatsoever. In December 2006, Maalot gave them an A/Stable rating, but Scorpio warns that the paper is on a negative watch list. In the first nine months of 2008 Scorpio lost NIS 39.5 million. (TheMarker) Merrill Lynch has lowered the 12-month price target of Gazit Globe vehicle Equity One by 14% to $12, and repeated an Underperform rating for the North American real estate company. Equity One, which invests chiefly in supermarket-anchored malls, is operating in a challenging environment: more retailers may yet fail, says the U.S. bank. Merrill likes EQY's strategy in recent years, which led it to reduce its liabilities and to lock in credit avenues to repay its $176 million debts coming due this April. Also, once the economic situation picks up, Merrill sees EQY rebounding strongly. (Michael Rochvarger) Two weeks ago the Israel Electric Corporation announced it had completed a bond placement with institutional investors, issued for NIS 99.0094 per each NIS 100 in face value, and raising NIS 500 million. But it seems there was an NIS 3.75 million discrepancy between the sum it said it raised and the reality: the brokerage handling the issuance, Leader Capital Markets, actually collected NIS 99.76 per each NIS 100 in face value, meaning, 75 agorot above the value appearing in the Electric Corporation's official announcement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. In other words, the utility raised NIS 503.8 million, and the one to receive most of the difference was Leader Capital Markets (though it may have used some of that to finance its costs). (Sharon Shpurer) Alony Hetz has repaid all its outstanding loans from Citi ahead of time, including the interest. It had borrowed 200 million Swiss francs in June 2006 to buy shares in the Swiss real estate company PSP, later building up its interest to 17.5%. Alony Hetz had repaid 60 million francs at the end of 2008. Alony Hetz's shares in PSP are presently worth NIS 1.2 billion. Last week, by the way, PSP announced its year-2008 results. Revenues grew 3.7% against the year before to CHF 256 million, but profit fell 23% to CHF 224 million. The main reason for the drop in profit is downward reevaluation of its assets. (Nathan Sheva) ? Clal Finance professed itself unsurprised by the earnings warning Discount Bank published, saying it expects to have lost between NIS 70 million to NIS 120 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. As expected, the bank lost money on derivatives, had to provision extra money for its workers' pensions, received less revenue from its affiliated companies, and increased its provision for doubtful debt. Discount also suffered losses from its own investments, together with the rest of the world. Clal Finance worries that the bank's fourth-quarter woes will reduce its capital adequacy ratio close to 10% by the quarter's end, requiring it to raise up to NIS 2.5 billion in capital. (TheMarker) Managers and workers of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries exercised $227 million worth of stock options in 2008, according to the company's annual financial statement, published at the end of last week. Workers converted 9.2 million options for an average exercise price of $20.60. During the year 2008, workers lost or waived the right to exercise 1.4 million stock options, and here's another stat: the number of options actually exercised was 2.5 times the number in 2007. (Yoram Gabison) Bookmark to del.icio.us   Celebrity conversion Lindsay Lohan is said to be converting to Judaism for her DJ girlfriend. Settlement expansion Peace Now: Israel planning 73,300 new homes in the West Bank.

Read & React U.S. officials' about-face on Iran nukes could sway Obama policy Responses: 62 Olmert orders Barak to act swiftly against rocket attacks Responses: 46 Israel dismisses Tehran demand to arrest Israeli 'war criminals' Responses: 75 Peace Now: Israel planning 73,300 new homes in West Bank Responses: 122 Durban 2 draft: Israel's Palestinian policy is a crime against humanity Responses: 75 More Headlines 22:18 Clinton in Israel to listen to Israel's leadership 23:10 Gaza rocket hits Ashkelon, Israel files complaint with UN 18:55 Comptroller: No protection from ongoing Gaza rockets or potential chemical attack 19:17 Durban 2 draft statement: Israel's Palestinian policy is crime against humanity 20:27 Sources: Hariri murder tribunal could derail Israel-Syria talks 00:17 Report: Russia to send 50 armored vehicles to Palestinian Authority 22:50 Barak to Peres: Convince Labor members to join coalition 00:53 Arab-Jewish duo chosen to represent Israel at Eurovision 00:40 How many Israeli companies will go belly-up in 2009? 15:59 Hillary Clinton, Gaza, and the six-state solution 23:37 Distraught parents of righteous gentile Wallenberg committed suicide 16:44 Israel dismisses Tehran demand to arrest Israeli 'war criminals' 21:56 U.S. Attorney General: Protecting our friends from terror is top priority 18:11 Israel demolishes two Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem Previous Editions Select Day 02 mar 01 mar 27 feb 26 feb 25 feb 24 feb 23 feb 22 feb 20 feb 19 feb 18 feb 17 feb

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