Dun's 100 ranks Leader as Israel's top underwriters

Amit Vardy, CEO Leader Capital Market
Amit Vardy, CEO Leader Capital Market

Leader Underwriters rose from fourth place in 2014 displacing IBI from the top spot.

The "Globes"-Dun's 100 underwriting ranking, based on the number of Israeli offerings as chief underwriter and the size of the offerings by the underwriters, showed a number of changes in last year's rating, especially in the top three places.

The big breakthrough in the 2016 ranking (based on performance in 2015) was by Leader Underwriters, rated only fifth in 2014, which jumped into first place for 2015 with 46 offerings totaling NIS 13.6 billion, including offerings by Gazit-Globe Ltd. (NYSE: GZT; TASE: GZT; TSX: GZT), Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ), Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), Azrieli Group Ltd. (TASE: AZRG), and others.

Poalim IBI Underwriting and Investments (TASE: PIU), rated number one last year, fell to second place in the current ratings with 43 offerings totaling NIS 11.4 billion.

Clal Finance Underwriting was rated third this year with 32 offerings totaling NIS 8.2 billion, down from second place last year.

Leumi Partners Ltd. was in fourth place, the same as last year with only 30 offerings totaling a respectable NIS 8.9 billion. The combination of the two parameters left the firm in fourth place, followed by Rosario Capital, which dropped from third place last year to fifth this year with 22 offerings totaling NIS 7.8 billion. Excellence Nessuah Underwriting rose from eighth to seventh place in 2015 with 21 offerings totaling NIS 5.4 billion.

Eighth place went to new player Value Base, founded in 2013 and headed by Peleg Peer, with 15 offerings totaling NIS 2.3 billion. The firm's offerings included Alony Hetz Property and Investments Ltd. (TASE: ALHE), Energix Renewable Energies Ltd. (ENRG), Formula Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: FORTY; TASE: FORT), REIT 1 Ltd. (TASE:RIT1), and others.

Rounding out the top 10 were Apax Underwriting Management and Issuances, which moved up one place with seven offerings totaling NIS 1.3 billion, and Migdal Underwriting and Business Initiatives, which made the top 10 for the first time with three offerings totaling NIS 1.9 billion.

There were 252 public offerings (bonds and shares) in 2015, which raised a total of NIS 58 billion, compared with the same number of offerings raising NIS 44 billion in 2014.

Public bond issues rose from NIS 39 billion in 2014 to NIS 55 billion in 2015, a 39.5% increase. Bond issues accounted for 94% of what was raised in 2015.

Public capital offerings totaled NIS 3.4 billion in 73 offerings in 2015, down 28%, compared with the NIS 4.7 billion raised in 2014.

A breakdown of the amounts raised by sector shows that the real estate and construction sector raised NIS 21.7 billion in 2015, compared with NIS 17.6 billion in 2014. This section also led in the number of offerings with 114 in 2015 and 124 in 2014.

In second place in the amount raised were the banks, which raised NIS 18.3 billion in 2015, compared with NIS 11 billion in 2014. In second place in the number of offerings was the biomedical sector with 36 offerings in 2015 and 29 in 2014.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 21, 2016

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016

Amit Vardy, CEO Leader Capital Market
Amit Vardy, CEO Leader Capital Market
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