Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), Israel's largest company, heads the "Globes 100" rankings for 2009. Its share returned 858.9% over the ten years between January 1, 1999 and March 31, 2009. Teva ousted last year's winner Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL), which fell to third place this year.
108-year old Teva has a current market cap of $40.2 billion, and has about 40,000 employees worldwide. Late last year, despite the credit crunch, it completed the acquisition of Barr Laboratories Inc. of the US for nearly $9 billion in cash and shares, the largest acquisition in Teva's history, as well as the largest acquisition ever of a foreign company by an Israeli firm. The acquisition of Barr consolidated Teva's standing as the world's largest generics pharmaceutical company, and demonstrates that when talking about Teva, the sky may indeed be the limit.
Teva CFO Eyal Desheh, who will shortly be marking his first year at the company, was quite optimistic in an exclusive interview with "Globes", saying that he believed more Tevas would emerge in Israel. "I believe in Israeli entrepreneurship. You have to have big dreams, and act with determination and caution," he said.
The "Globes 100" investor value rankings ranks Israeli public companies, listed on both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and foreign exchanges, on the basis of value created for shareholders over the preceding ten years. The creation of shareholder value, reflects primarily and possibly ultimately as well, is the share's return, which in the long term is a function of the company's business performance and other factors, such as size and liquidity.
The ranking also takes into account the partly subjective factor of the quality of the company's management and professionalism.
Delek Energy Systems Ltd. (TASE: DEOL) is in second place in "Globes 100" rankings for 2009. The subsidiary of Yitzhak Tshuva-controlled Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) is the direct parent company of Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) and Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L), which are partners in Israel's two Tamar and Dalit oil discoveries offshore from Haifa and Hadera, respectively, earlier this year. Delek Energy's share has risen 305% since the beginning of 2009 and by 6,598% since January 1, 1999.
After third-place Israel Chemicals, the 4th through 10th rankings in 2009 are as follows: geothermal energy developer Ormat Industries Ltd. (TASE: ORMT), real estate developer Melisron Ltd. (TASE: MLSR), electronic defense company Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT), Brill Shoe Industries Ltd. (TASE: BRIL), Ford and Mazda importer Delek Automotive Systems Ltd. (TASE: DLEA), Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), and Delek's partner in Tamar and Dalit, Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L).
Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY), which topped the "Globes 100" ranking in 2007, fell to eighth place in 2008, and failed to make the top ten in 2009.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 14, 2009
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