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Echos of Gordon Brown's Visit
to Israel |
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British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown, left, shakes hands
with Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
during a press conference at his Jerusalem residence
The Daily Mail website |
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Gordon Brown promises backing for Israel in face of Iran nuclear threat |
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Nicholas Watt in Jerusalem and Julian Borger
The Guardian, 21.7.08
Gordon Brown today recalled the Holocaust in a blunt warning to Iran to end its "totally abhorrent" threat to destroy Israel and abandon plans to develop nuclear weapons.
In the first speech by a British prime minister to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, Brown declared Britain would stand by the country when its "very right to exist" was under threat.
Brown's remarks will be seen as a signal that Britain could be prepared to support a military strike against Iran if all other diplomatic routes fail, including a tightening of sanctions.
In a speech marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, the prime minister told Israeli MPs: "Britain is your true friend. A friend in difficult times as well as in good times, a friend who will stand beside you whenever your peace, your stability and your existence are under threat."
Brown singled out Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who has said Israel should be wiped from the map.
"To those who question Israel's right to exist, and threaten the lives of its citizens through terror, we say: the people of Israel have a right to live here, to live freely and to live in security," Brown said. "And to those who believe that threatening statements fall upon indifferent ears, we say in one voice that it is totally abhorrent for the president of Iran to call for Israel to be wiped from the map of the world."
Brown stopped short of endorsing the comparisons made by Israeli politicians between Ahmadinejad and Adolf Hitler. The prime minister's speech, his toughest to date on Iran, follows an inconclusive meeting with Iran's negotiators on Saturday in Geneva.
Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, has given Iran two weeks to sign up to a package of economic and political support in return for halting the enrichment of uranium.
Brown made clear today the EU will intensify sanctions if Iran does not comply. "Iran now has a clear choice to make: suspend its nuclear programme and accept our offer of negotiations or face growing isolation and the collective response not of one nation but of many nations," he said, to applause from the Knesset members.
Brown's speech marked the end of a two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank, following a one-day visit to Iraq that was carefully balanced to appeal to both sides in the conflict.
In a visit to Bethlehem, which he reached by passing through Israel's controversial separation barrier, Brown announced an extra $60m (£30m) emergency funding to the Palestinian Authority. This is on top of $500m pledged by Britain over three years until 2011.
Speaking at a press conference with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Brown said: "While security is key, Palestinians also need to see real change in their daily lives and that means jobs, housing and basic services."
Brown chose his language with care as he said Palestinians needed to do more to ensure Israel could live in peace. But he indicated the Israeli security barrier was depriving Palestinians of human rights and called on Israel to stop building settlements in the occupied West Bank, which breaks international law. Brown urged Israel to help ease obstacles to economic development among Palestinians.
Brown said: "As a child, I learned about Bethlehem from the Bible as a symbol of peace and a symbol of hope. But today the wall here is graphic evidence of the urgent need for justice for the Palestinian people, the end to the occupation and the need for a viable Palestinian state. There are undoubted problems, the freezing of settlements, stopping of the violence."
The prime minister balanced his visit to the West Bank by symbolically starting the day with a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial museum. He spent an hour with his wife, Sarah, touring the museum, which chronicles the Nazi extermination programme.
Brown put on a skull cap to rekindle the eternal flame in the Hall of Remembrance and to lay a wreath over the ashes of victims of the six Nazi extermination camps.
He wrote in the visitors' book: "Nothing prepares one for the story that is told here - of the atrocities that should never have happened and the truth that everyone who loves humanity should know."
Israeli MPs heard a personal account from Brown of how he has been a passionate supporter of their country from when he was growing up in the 1950s. Brown told the Knesset he was inspired by his father, John. He used to visit Israel every year in the 1950s and 1960s as a chairman of the Church of Scotland's church and Israel committee and show slides of the building of the new state to his family.
Brown said: "I will never forget those early images of your home and the stories my father would tell. There was never a time that I did not hear about the struggles, sacrifices, tribulation and triumphs as the Israeli people built their new state. I am proud to say that for the whole of my life I have counted myself a friend of Israel”.
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Editorial - Gordon Brown’s
visit |
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Jerusalem Post, 20.7.2008
Gordon Brown today becomes the first British prime minister to address the Knesset, an honor not even extended to Margaret Thatcher, who in 1986 became the first British head of government to visit the Jewish state. We welcome Prime Minister Brown and trust that his message to Israel's parliament will be worthy of the historic occasion it marks.
There have been other addresses to the Knesset's plenum by leaders of prominent EU states, including Germany and France, in connection with Israel's 60th anniversary. Brown, however, represents the nation whose historic role as the Mandatory power in Palestine played a large part in fomenting many of the crises that continue to haunt the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors.
When Brown steps up to the Knesset podium, what ought to be uppermost in the collective British memory is that Britain was the power which, on the eve of the Holocaust, published its White Paper denying haven to desperate Jewish refugees from Hitler's Europe. The gates of Palestine closed. The gates of hell stayed open.
BY A TWIST of fate, Brown is visiting the region just as a would-be annihilator threatens the state which the Jewish remnant built. The vitriolic rhetoric of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the nuclear weapons his nation seeks to manufacture are potentially as threatening as the Third Reich's Final Solution.
Britain should feel a special responsibility to not - again - turn a blind eye to genocidal intentions. As Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the Court of St. James's, has said: Britain ought "to take a leading role" in generating an effective global response to Iran's undisguised ambitions.
The clock is ticking for the world, while its leaders appear content to let the mullahs win time via protracted talks which - as EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana himself grudgingly admitted - have so far led nowhere.
As Prosor wrote in The Daily Telegraph ahead of Brown's visit, the international community "decided only to be undecided. Churchill used to tell the parable of the appeaser who feeds the crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. The world must send a message to Teheran that the feeding is over."
We hope Brown will announce British support for a robust sanctions regime, implemented with a sense of urgency, as the only way to avert the devastating impact on regional stability that an Iranian bomb would bring.
BROWN, WHOSE goal is to advance the "peace process," visited Bethlehem on Sunday, where he presented Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with a new aid package worth $60m.
Unfortunately, he parroted conventional EU wisdom, which assumes that the road to progress is paved only with further Israeli concessions and requires condemnation of the life-saving security barrier. Nothing could be more counterproductive.
Brown will advance the cause of peace if he urges the Palestinian Arabs to, once and for all, renounce their demand for a "right of return," which would inundate the Jewish state with millions of Arabs refugees. They must find a home in the Arab world or in a Palestinian state created to live side by side in peace with Israel. He could further promote peace by telling the Palestinians that there can be no going back to the 1949 armistice lines and advising Abbas to prepare his people for these realities.
Brown's statement in Bethlehem that "settlement expansion has made peace harder to achieve" was unhelpful. What has made peace harder to achieve is Palestinian intransigence at the negotiating table and mindless Palestinian violence elsewhere.
Britain would also do well to reject the moral equivalence many in the West have drawn between settlements and terrorism. And its prime minister should know that no "freeze" can be applicable to Jerusalem or the strategic settlement blocs - where undermining the Israeli consensus on vital security needs would set back the prospects for progress to a viable accommodation.
On bilateral relations, we are grateful that Brown has condemned ongoing attempts to punish the Mideast's only center of genuine academic and intellectual freedom by means of threats of academic boycotts.
He could do even more: Let him speak out against the Orwellian predilection of many in the British media and intelligentsia to deny the inalienable right of the Jewish people to a secure national homeland.
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Brown to hit back at UK
lecturers' boycott on visit to Israel |
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The
Independent
By
Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Sunday, 20 July 2008
A major new academic exchange programme, which will help to undermine attempts to boycott Israeli universities, will be announced by Gordon Brown and the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, tonight.
Mr Brown, on his first visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as Prime Minister, will hold talks with Mr Olmert before unveiling the Britain and Israel research and academic exchange partnership. The programme, which already has funding of more than £700,000 over five years, will strengthen opposition to the latest attempt by the British lecturers' union to ostracise Israeli academics – action that has been taken despite advice that the union's 2007 boycott call was illegal.
While the move will be welcomed in Israel, Mr Brown – who tomorrow becomes the first British prime minister to address the Knesset – is expected to criticise some Israeli policies, including the continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem.
The academic partnership will provide grants for joint scientific research, as well as exchanges of UK and Israeli junior and mid-career academics. While it has the backing of the two governments, and will be co-ordinated through the British Council, the funding is mainly from the private and voluntary sectors. The biggest single donation – of £100,000 per year over five years – comes from a leading UK Jewish charity, the Pears Foundation.
The British government has repeatedly opposed the boycott calls by the University and College Union, which it says are not representative of the large majority of British academia. Faced with a legal bar on implementing its 2007 call, the 2008 UCU conference this May urged members "to consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions".
The vote came after Bill Rammell, the UK's Higher Education minister, who visited Israel last year to reinforce his opposition to the calls, told the conference that "academic boycotts are the complete antithesis of academic freedom".
He pointed out that the Palestinian head of East Jerusalem's Al-Quds University, Sari Nusseibeh, was opposed to a boycott: " I met Israeli academics engaged in welfare projects for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories ... The problem with boycotts is that they make the job of the progressives more difficult, and they reinforce the position of reactionaries."
British officials expect the Prime Minister – who will be accompanied by a group of UK businessmen, led by the Trade and Investment minister, Lord Jones – to follow the recent example of President Nicolas Sarkozy during his trip, rather than that of President George Bush.
Mr Bush made no mention of the Palestinians in a fulsome Knesset speech that was openly welcomed by far-right Israeli parliamentarians. By contrast, Mr Sarkozy coupled his praise for Israel with criticisms of the controversial West Bank separation barrier, and warned that East Jerusalem would have to become the capital of a future Palestinian state. Mr Brown is also expected to call for urgent progress towards two states based on 1967 borders.
The Prime Minister, who will meet leading East Jerusalem Palestinians in the city, will travel to Bethlehem to meet the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad. As well as seeing the barrier at close hand, he will visit the Church of the Nativity. He will in addition hold a series of meetings with leading Israeli politicians.
The privilege of addressing the Knesset used to be reserved for foreign heads of state, but the tradition was broken earlier this year when the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was granted her request to speak to the Israeli parliament.
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| Gordon
Brown visits Jerusalem Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem on Israel tour |
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The
Daily Telegraph
By
Melissa Kite in Jerusalem
21 July 2008
Mr Brown and his wife Sarah Brown were visibly moved as they toured Yad Vashem during Mr
Brown’s first formal visit to Israel as Prime Minister.
Wearing a traditional Jewish skull cap Mr Brown rekindled the eternal flame in the Hall of
Remembrance before writing an emotional message in the visitors' book of the museum which
tells the story of the extermination of six million Jews in the Second World War.
He
said "nothing prepares you for the story that is told here of the atrocities that should
never have happened and the truth that everyone who loves humanity should know. "We must
always remember so that prejudice, discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism can be banished
from our world."
Mrs Brown wrote "we shall never forget".
The
Prime Minister was then driven through Israeli checkpoints to visit Bethlehem, where he held
talks with President Mahmoud Abbas, and announced $60m of aid for economic development in
Palestine over the next three years. |
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Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, wearing a traditional Jewish yarmulke, lays a wreath at the Holocaust
memorial
Photo: AP |
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The
prime minister has brought a business delegation to Israel and said he wanted to help inwards
investment and trade in the Palestinian territories.
Before
going on to visit the church of the nativity, the birthplace of Christ, he said "as a
child I learnt about Bethlehem as a symbol of peace and hope, but the wall here is evidence of
the need for a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel."
Mr Brown will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a bid to add impetus to
the current negotiations in the peace process. He paid tribute to his predecessor Tony Blair,
now a Middle East envoy to the Quartet group of nations, saying he had spoken to him before
embarking on his Middle East mission. |
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UKTI Minister leads high profile business delegation to Israel |
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British business stands ready to strengthen its economic ties with Israel. This is the clear message Britain’s Trade & Investment Minister, Lord Digby Jones made during his trade mission to Israel on 21 July . Lord Digby Jones accompanied Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the visit.
Lord Jones, who is the first British trade minister to visit Israel in 15 years, is leading a high profile, multi sector delegation of British businesses to Israel which not only illustrates the diversity of sectors already doing business with Israel but underlines the UK’s long term commitment to the Israel.
Speaking at the UK-Israel Business Conferenc Lord Jones said: "I am proud to lead this delegation to Israel and show off what Britain has to offer. Israel presents a wonderful opportunity for UK companies to find lasting business partnerships".
“The timing of this delegation is crucial as bilateral trade between our two countries is going from strength to strength. Over the past decade it has grown by 40 per cent and is now worth over £2.3 billion pounds. We will now strive to achieve the Prime Minister’s target of £3billion of two-way trade by 2012.”
The Minister said foreign investment in both UK and Israel is also at an “all-time high” with more than 250 Israeli companies now located in the UK and 47 Israeli companies listed on London stock exchanges, with 41 having joined in the last three years
Echoing the Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s sentiments, Lord Jones said his government organisation UK Trade & Investment, which is responsible for promoting the UK international business, is committed to securing 25 more inward investment projects from Israel by 2010.
“The City of London has the enviable position of being the world’s leading international financial centre, thanks to its scope, scale and outlook. It is my job to ensure that Israeli businesses continue to choose the UK as their global platform for international financial success."
“I want to encourage more Israeli businesses to come and invest in the UK and more UK companies to do business in Israel. Trade and investment are vital for future growth and prosperity of both our countries and I want to ensure that our trading relationship continues to go from strength to strength over the coming years,” Lord Jones added.
Members of the UK Business Delegation
Lord Karan Bilimoria Chairman, Cobra Beer Ltd
Lord Andrew Stone Deputy Chairman, Sindicatum Carbon Capital
Sir Trevor Chinn Senior Adviser, CVC Capital Partners Ltd
Sir Michael Bishop Chairman, British Midland
Sir Victor Blank Chairman, LloydsTSB Bank
Sir Ronald Cohen Chairman, Portland Trust
Sir Martin Gilbert Leading British historian
Sir Robert Naylor Chief Executive, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Sir Gulam Noon, MBE Chairman, Noon Products Ltd
Sir Stephen Wright Chief Executive, International Financial Services Ltd
Toby Coppel Managing Director, Yahoo Europe
David Freud Chief Executive, The Portland Trust
Harry Hyman Managing Director, Primary Health Properties PLC
Ian Livingston CEO, BT
Mark Lovell Executive Chairman, A4e
Antoine Mattar Director, Consolidated Contractors International S.A.L
Peter Ripley Managing Director, ACWA Services Ltd
Ramez Sousou Co-CEO, TowerBrook Capital Partners
Calvey Taylor-Haw Managing Director, Elektromotive
Michael Ziff Chairman, Stylo Plc
UK Trade & Investment Contact: karen.neal@ukti.gsi.gov.uk
Publication date: 31/07/2008
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| Richard Salt, Director Trade and Investment, thanks
Len Judes |
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Dear Lennie
I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak at the UK-Israel Business Breakfast last Monday in Jerusalem. Your words played an important role in this UK-Israel event and were greatly appreciated by those who attended.
I would also like to thank you for the Israel-British Chamber of Commerce' efforts in assisting us with the smooth running of the visit to Israel by the British Minister of Trade and Investment and the Business Delegation. I can easily say that we could not have done it without the support of Felix and Naomi and we at UKTI Tel Aviv are most grateful. We have, of course, thanked them separately.
By all accounts, the visit was a resounding success.
Yours,
Richard Salt
Director Trade and Investment
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IBCC Members Learning Commercial English |
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The Israel British Chamber of Commerce (IBCC) in cooperation with Waves of Success (WOS) launched a new service in February 2008, aimed at improving the English communication between Israeli and British companies.
To quote one training manager:
"All students came back to me with positive comments, high drive to continue and anticipation for next week - this didn't happen before!
I must say, I haven't heard such feedbacks on prior language courses”
Several IBCC members have already signed up for the course, including insurance companies, insurance brokers, lawyers and hotel groups. Other customers include high tech companies, manufacturing enterprises and service industries.
We all know that English is an essential tool to facilitate and strengthen business contacts with British companies. The question is how to find the time to improve ourselves.
The courses are tailor-made, allowing participants to work on presentation skills, reports, or even negotiations. Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced levels are all available. The course structure allows students to choose when they want to learn, both as a group or individually.
The result: Enhanced business communication abilities, which feed through into the balance sheet.
The IBCC has obtained the official support of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv for the Business English courses.
Members are invited to contact Raymond Ellis at WOS to obtain details of the different courses for a wide variety of business disciplines.
www.wos.co.il
raymond@wos.co.il
Office Tel: 077-5188900
Mobile Tel: 050-8644155 |
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New Members List , 1.1.08 – 1.8.08 |
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The Israel-British Chamber of Commerce (IBCC)
proudly welcomes the following new members to its ranks: |
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Company
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Contact
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Field
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Israel Diamond Manufacturers'
Association
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Udi Sheintal
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Diamonds
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Bell Potinger Public Affairs
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Cohen Jodie
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Public Relations
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ATDS
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Bendor Adi
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Medical Equipment
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Evergreen Real Estate Ltd
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Green Penny
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Real Estate
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Dickinson Cruickshank
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Steven Pariente
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Lawyers
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Science Demo
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Livnat Sigalit
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Educational technologies
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Goldman Investments
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Goldman Daniel
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Investments
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Synergy Cables
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Baron Yechezkel
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Manufacturers
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Silver Levene
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Roger S Gibbons
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Accountants
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3sixty Global Marketing Ltd
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Spencer Waldron
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Marketing
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Israel Hotel's Association
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Zurel Shmuel
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Tourism
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De Frece Halperin
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John de
Frece
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Lawyers
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From
the Press
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UK Embassy moves off coast |
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The
UK Embassy in Tel Aviv plans to move to the Kirya Tower in Tel Aviv after being located on the seafront Hayarkon Street for decades. Sources inform ''Globes'' that the embassy plans to rent three floors in the Kirya Tower from Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. at $27 per square meter per month.
23 floors of the 74,000-square meter 42-storey Kirya Tower are leased to the Israeli government. The UK Embassy is negotiation a lease on other floors, which have a separate and luxurious lobby, which Africa-Israel has just begun to market. Each floor has 2,000 square meters, which means that the embassy will pay $162,000 in rent a year. The building, located on Menahem Begin Road, across the street from the Azrieli Towers, has a helipad on the roof.
An Africa-Israel Properties Ltd. spokesman said in response, "The company does not comment on these matters."
The UK Embassy currently occupies a 3,000-square meter building at 192 Hayarkon Street, at the corner of Arlozorov Street and across the street from the Tel Aviv Hilton. Hayarkon Street is Tel Aviv's "embassy row". Apartment prices on the street have soared, with many apartments bought by British citizens. The Russian Embassy on the street is up for sale for $10 million. The US Embassy is just down the street.
Globes, 29.7.08
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British Israel: Israeli real estate market avoided bubble |
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"The Israeli commercial market will keep its current strength. Israel was not affected by the credit crisis because no real estate bubble developed here, and prices did not skyrocket like they did in other countries. Store rents at the better malls are $40 per share meter, while rent overseas is a joke. We're talking about €100 per square meter," said
British-Israel Investments Ltd. CEO Amir Biram at the Council for Beautiful Israel conference for commercial real estate agents.
Biram added, "In contrast to some players in this market, we at British Israel don’t play on yields. We don’t buy at a return on investment of 7-8% in order to make a profit on the differential between the interest rate and the return. We're betterment players. We change the mix and improve the return. We don’t do deals like the purchase of the Assuta Medical compound by Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. from Ogen Yielding Real Estate Ltd.”
Globes, 29.7.08
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UK may join Project Better Place |
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UK daily "The Independent" reports that UK Prime Minister
Gordon Brown wants to convert Britain's car industry to electrical vehicles and adopt the recharging and battery replacement model being developed by
Shai Agassi, or a similar model. The paper says that Brown "will meet manufacturers this week to try to persuade them to mass-produce electric cars, and is considering a remarkable plan to sell the cars cheap, together with their fuel, that is modeled on mobile-phone contracts."
Under the proposed model, batteries, which are the most expensive part of the cars' cost, will be owned by the company and leased to car owners on the basis of monthly plans that include the recharging of batteries on a per kilometer basis and the replacement of empty batteries at recharging centers.
Brown met Project Better Place CEO Shai Agassi on his state visit to Israel earlier this week.
"The Independent" says that the British government is considering several electric car proposals. The paper notes that for the plan to achieve the carbon dioxide reduction target, the electrical power for the cars must come from either renewable sources or nuclear power, not fossil fuels. This is the first time that nuclear power has been mentioned as a source of power for the electric cars and as a means of oil independence for transportation.
Israeli sources point out that solar energy plants could be a source of this electricity, while Denmark is adopting wind power as the energy source.
Project Better Place said in response, "We share the British Prime Minister's vision of a changeover to clean transportation. The company does not disclose the names of countries and companies with which it is in contact for the deployment of the infrastructure before the countries make their own announcements."
Globes, 23.7.08
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Israel seeks new talks with BG on Gaza gas |
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Sources inform ''Globes'' that Israel wants to renew talks with
BG Group plc to buy natural gas from its reserves offshore from Gaza. The Palestinian Authority is a partner in the concession. The move follows proposals by the Egyptian government to raise the price of its natural gas.
The government has informed BG that it was prepared to renew negotiations on natural gas purchases. Energy market sources say that the Ministries of Finance and National Infrastructures want to renew the negotiations because Egypt wants to reopen the gas delivery contracts signed with Israel. Both Ministry of Finance director general
Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler agreed to inform BG of Israel's wish to renew the talks.
The sources added that BG has not yet officially responded to Israel's request, but that company executives would probably come to Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government officials.
In January 2008, BG announced that it was terminating negotiations with the Israeli government and closed its offices in Israel. The announcement followed disagreements with the Ministry of Finance over the price of natural gas and the deadlock in negotiations on arrangements for transferring payment from Israel to the Palestinian Authority.
BG was asking $4.60-5 per million British Thermal Units (BTU), which was more than the $4 price per million BTU of
East Mediterranean Gas Co. (EMG) However, the Egyptian government has since officially announced that it intends to raise the price of natural gas sold to Israel following criticism of the contract by the opposition.
BG owns 90% of the Marin natural gas concession offshore from Gaza, with the Palestinian Authority and Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), owned by Lebanon’s Houri family, owning the rest. The Palestinian Authority has an option to increase its holding in the concession to 40%.
An Israeli contract with BG could total $3-4 billion. Energy market sources believe that if negotiations resume, BG will ask even higher prices than before, at $7-8 per million BTU, because of the rise in global energy prices.
Government sources said that, in addition to commercial disagreements, there was now a greater chance of progress in the negotiations, politically speaking, following the cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza and the progress in the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.
Globes, 23.6.08
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Alvarion deploys WiMAX network in the UK |
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Alvarion
has won a contract to supply its BreezeMax platform to UK wireless systems integrator
Metranet. Alvarion's platform, which will operate on the 3.3 GHz spectrum, will enable Metranet to provide backhaul for CCTV cameras (closed circuit TV), and traffic junction control throughout the city of Reading, north of London. The size of the deal was not disclosed.
The WiMAX network went live in March 2008 and replaced the existing wired network. Live video from main roads and junctions is streamed back to a central control room, and traffic lights can then be manually controlled via the WiMAX network to improve traffic flow, providing real time travel information to shopping centers, intranet systems and mobile phones.
Globes, 21.5.08
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Alrov buys Tel Aviv building from British investor |
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Alrov Properties and Lodgings Ltd. (TASE: ALRPR), controlled by chairman Alfred Akirov, has bought Tel Aviv's
Asia House for $61 million from UK investor Melvin Cooper, the owner of property developer Mountcharm Ltd.
Located near the Tel Aviv Courthouse, Asia House has 23,800 square meters, including a 6,300-square meter rooftop floor, five office floors with 17,500 square meters, lobby and mezzanine. The building has 34 tenants, paying an average rent of $16 per square meter per month for a total of $4.1 million a year, giving a return on investment of 6.5%.
The tenants include the Ecuador, Italian, and Swedish embassies, the Herzog Fox Neeman law firm, French bank BNP Paribas and the offices of IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. subsidiary Property and Building Ltd. (TASE: PTBL). The building is part of the complex of office buildings all named for the continents, including America House and Europe House.
Globes, 11.5.08
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UK co Micro Focus buys NetManage for $73.3m |
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British software company
Micro Focus International plc has acquired Israeli software developer NetManage
Inc. at $7.20 per share for a total of $73.3 million. The transaction was made at a premium of 73% on NetManage's closing price of $4.15 yesterday. The companies expect to close the deal in June.
Micro Focus makes enterprise application management and modernization solutions, while NetManage develops solutions for transforming transform legacy applications into new Web-based business solutions. The consolidation will enable the companies to create a better software legacy modernization product.
Micro Focus CEO Stephen Kelly said, "The combination of Micro Focus and NetManage will provide the enlarged group with further opportunities for growth through a more comprehensive and broader product offering, enhancing our position as a leading player in the applications modernization market."
NetManage chairman and CEO Zvi Alon, added, "We feel confident this is the right strategy for our shareholders, customers and employees and that Micro Focus will continue to build on our legacy. NetManage's specialized solutions for integrating, Web enabling, and accessing enterprise information systems will strengthen and advance Micro Focus's set of offerings."
Micro Focus said that it expects $226-228 million revenue for the fiscal year ending on April 30, 2008. NetManage has a market cap of $40 million.
Globes, 1.5.08
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Igal Ahouvi's Ravad buys 70% of UK retail park |
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Ravad
Ltd. controlled by Igal Ahouvi, is acquiring from British Land Company plc 70% of the Colne Valley Retail Park in Watford, England, for ₤31.5 million, reflecting a value of ₤45.1 million for the property. Ravad carried out the deal through a wholly-owned Luxembourg subsidiary. A third party is acquiring the other 30% of the property.
Ravad obtained a non-recourse five-year 6.5% fixed-interest loan of ₤36.5 million and will finance ₤9.1 million from shareholders' equity to pay for its share of the purchase of the property.
Watford is located 30 kilometers north of London. Built in 1990, the park is located in a prime retail zone about one kilometer from the Watford town center. The property is adjacent to a Tesco supermarket and the Waterfields Retail Park. The Valley Retail Park has 8,183 square meters of commercial space that is fully leased to seven tenants, and generates ₤3.14 million in annual rent. The tenants have long-term leases that will expire between 2019 and 2027.
Ahouvi acquired Ravad through Blenheim Properties Group Ltd. in early 2007. The company's core business is rental income-producing properties in North America, Western Europe, and Israel. The properties include shopping and logistics centers and office buildings.
Globes, 1.5.08
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Israelis among UK richest |
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The
"Sunday Times" Rich List for 2008 shows that only six of the 20 wealthiest Britons were actually born in the country. Indian steel magnate
Lakshmi Mittal tops the list, with a fortune of ₤27.7 billion, followed by Roman
Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea Football Club, with a fortune of ₤11.7 billion, up from ₤10.8 billion a year ago. Both men kept their rankings from last year. Mittal is also the world's sixth richest man as growing demand for steel boosted his fortune by ₤8.4 billion last year.
The Duke of Westminster is in third place, with a fortune of ₤7 billion. Industrialists Sri
and Gopi Hinduja are in fourth place and Russian steelmaker, unranked last year,
Alisher Usmanov reached fifth place.
Five billionaires with Israeli affiliations made the Rich List this year. Shipping magnates Sammy Ofer and his son
Eyal are ranked 15th, with a fortune of ₤3.34 billion; Africa-Israel chairman Lev
Leviev, described as a property magnate, is in 21st place, with ₤2.5 billion; property magnate
Poju Zabludowicz is in 31st place, with ₤2 billion; and diamond merchant Benny Steinmetz is in 39th place with a fortune of ₤1.8 billion. Only Poju Zabludowicz was included in last year's Rich List, in 24th place; his fortunes appear to have declined, at least relatively speaking.
Eyal Ofer resides in London and Leviev moved there earlier this year. Steinmetz, who resides in Israel, makes the list because he has a residence in the UK.
Rich List compiler Philip Beresford explained that in the era of globalization, in which London is a key financial player, the list includes both British citizens and people with strong ties to the country or assets in it.
Party Gaming controlling shareholders Ruth Parasol, who has Israeli citizenship and the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and her partner
Russell De Leon, are jointly ranked 97th on the Rich List, with a fortune of ₤763 million.
Globes, 1.5.08
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