Markets in Brief

Actavis, the debt-ridden Icelandic generic drug maker vying with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries to buy German drug company Ratiopharm, would like to float the enlarged company if it wins the auction, Actavis executives said Monday. They foresee an initial public offering in five to eight years. Deutsche Bank, Actavis' main creditor, agreed to let the drug maker bid by itself after its putative partner in a takeover, the Swedish buyout firm EQT, backed out last month. Actavis executives suggested that Deutsche Bank swap some of its debt for an equity stake in the combined company. The merged company would use Ratiopharm's headquarters in Ulm, southwestern Germany. (Reuters)

The post-Passover season is typically a time of initial public offerings. Companies float based on their financial statements for the year before. This year is no exception: 11 companies already have lined up, which means they've filed prospectuses with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. They can float based on their 2009 report until the end of May. The biggest will apparently be David Azrieli's real estate group, which plans to float according to a market value of $2 billion. Ampa Real Estate is thinking of floating a real estate investment trust according to a company valuation of $1.3 billion. The government companies Ashdod Port and Haifa Port are also heading for the public pocket as part of their privatization process. Other companies in the pipeline include Levinstein Real Estate, Elad Canada (which belongs to Yitzhak Tshuva), Electra Consumer Products and - hold on to your kipot - Israel Post. While all the rest want to issue shares, Israel Post wants to borrow from the public by issuing NIS 600 million worth of bonds. (Sharon Shpurer)

Some can't wait for Passover, evidently. Ultra Shape tried to race Monday but fell short of the finish line as investors showed indifference. The company, which makes slimming and exercise equipment, had thought to raise NIS 17.5 million in the institutional phase of its initial public offering but, well, for once nobody was gobbling at the offering. If anything has been slimming down, it's the company's revenues: from $22 million in 2007 to $11 million in 2008 and $5.4 million in the first nine month of 2009. In 2007 and 2008 it lost an aggregate $25 million. (Sharon Shpurer)

Internet service provider NetVision yesterday reported a 1.3% increase in revenues for 2009, to NIS 1.25 billion. Gross profit grew by 8% year-over-year to NIS 273 million. NetVision lowered its management, general, marketing and sales costs, enabling it to achieve a 40% leap in profit from operations to NIS 156 million, compared with NIS 111 million in 2008. Net profit, however, grew by a lesser 22% to NIS 106 million, because of tax issues and higher financing costs. (Orr Hirschauge)

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Blue Square Real Estate's revenues increased 15% in 2009 to NIS 145 million, while operating profit increased 80% to NIS 293 million, thanks to a revaluation of properties. The bottom line is net profit of NIS 230 million in 2009, compared with NIS 67 million the year before. (Lior Zeno)

Clal Finance yesterday smiled upon the energy sector. Oil and gas exploration partnership Isramco was upgraded to Buy from Outperform, but its 12-month price target was left at NIS 0.75. Avner and Delek Drilling, both of which are controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva's Delek Group, were upgraded from Sector Perform to Outperform. Avner's target remained at NIS 1.96 and Delek Drilling was raised to NIS 11.30. Clal Finance's fave among the pack is Isramco, but it thinks investors should have holdings in Avner and Delek Drilling as well. (Vadim Sviderski)

Israeli venture capital funds raised only $229 million in 2009, down 72% from 2008 following the global market downturn, the Israel Venture Capital (IVC) Research Center said this week. The figure is the third lowest annual amount raised in the past decade, it said. "Foreign institutional investors - who before the crisis had been the lead source of capital invested in Israeli funds - have suffered serious losses due to the credit crunch," said IVC chief executive Koby Simana. IVC projected Israeli VC funds would raise $500 million in 2010. (Reuters)

The Development Company Pounded by the Contractors & Builders (yes, really) says that it reached a settlement in court yesterday with Hermetic, the trust company representing its bondholders. A head of agreement was signed to sell the controlling interest in the company to a third party, Development said. The final agreement will be contingent on the approval of the bondholders at assembly. If the bondholders balk, well, then the company enters receivership in May. (TheMarker)

Taya Communications says it's bought yet more shares in the UK company Avesco, this time for NIS 4.7 million. Taya now owns 26.6% of the media services group's shares. Last month Avesco stated that it had rejected a takeover bid from Taya on the grounds that it was too cheap. (TheMarker)