It seems local rating agencies have also started to worry about risk, and the Midroog rating agency has therefore lowered its ratings for bonds of Electra Real Estate from Aa1 to Aa3, along with a negative rating forecast. The bonds involved have an outstanding value of NIS 540 million. The reason behind the downgrade is a change in the way Midroog views risky investments in Eastern Europe and Russia. Electra's announcement of the $65 million purchase of land in St. Petersburg was the trigger. (Yoram Gavison)

Israeli startup Resolute Networks is in financial trouble and is expected to fire dozens of workers in across the board layoffs that will cut the firm's manpower by more than half, TheMarker has learned. Resolute makes "Circuit Emulation Services (CES) and Synchronization over Packet applications" for telephony, and is losing its battle against Voice over IP applications. Management informed employees that about 30 would lose their jobs, only six months after 10 others were let go. The company has also been looking for a buyer in recent months, but with no success. Also plans to raise more funding have all fallen through. Resolute refused to comment. (Eran Gabay)