"We may see an Israeli IPO on NYSE this year"

Dozens of Israeli companies or companies owned by Israelis are traded on Wall Street. The vast majority are traded on Nasdaq with only a few listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and its affiliate the American Stock Exchange (AMEX).

In order to change this situation, NYSE Euronext executive VP head of international listings for EMEA Ronald Kent and senior manager Diederik Zandstra came to Israel for meetings with many local companies, consultants, and banks.

Zandstra said, "We met with companies from various sectors that are thinking about public offerings. At the moment they are thinking but I believe it will take time until the IPO. We have a pipeline of Israeli companies and we may yet see an Israeli IPO on NYSE this year."

Globes: How does NYSE plan on competing with Nasdaq which has built a strong reputation in Israel?

Zandstra It's correct that Nasdaq has succeeded in taking a big market share here, but in recent years NYSE has expanded its business, and it is better adapted today for small and medium sized quality companies.

Zandstra is referring to the NYSE's mergers with Euronext in 2007 and AMEX in 2008. Both stock exchanges are designed for smaller companies and have Israeli companies among their listings.

Zandstra said, "We offer opportunities to both large and small companies from various industries and markets."

Israeli companies traded on the exchanges include: Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX); Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL); Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc. (AMEX:PLX); and Kardan NV (TASE: KRNV;AEX:KARD), and most recently Prolor Biotech Inc. (AMEX: PBTH).

Has a window of opportunity opened for Israeli companies on Wall Street?

Zandstra Generally speaking the IPO market is much more active than a year ago but it is still too early to say that it is wide open. We can cautiously say that there are encouraging signs. There is an IPO market for good companies and there are investors that are again looking for IPOs. I do not think that it is important for the international investor from what jurisdiction a company comes from. If the company has the right story then the market will be open.

Kent said, "It tends to be thought that first comes the IPOs of American companies and only then as the cycle continues do Israeli or Chinese companies arrive. I agree that's the way it was in the past but the present cycle is different. A number of very large IPOs actually came from China and Brazil and that hints that this cycle has different trends to the past."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 1, 2010

"We may see an Israeli IPO on NYSE this year"

Executives from the NYSE Euronext are in Israel to convince firms to list on the prestigious exchange.