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The dollar is continuing to strengthen and is approaching the representative rate of NIS 5. Last week it reached a new high - NIS 4.932. In the weekly summary the dollar was strengthened by 2.1%, and since the beginning of the year has strengthened by 12%. Israel's business attache in Singapore announced this week that venture capital companies and funds from Singapore have invested $400 million in Israeli high tech companies in the last two years. In these days of political difficulties, Singaporean companies continue to be practically the only target markets for raising funds from abroad. Support was found in Singapore's International Business Conference that opened last week and was dedicated to investments in Israeli companies. Despite the difficulties, more than 200 representatives of large companies and private and government investment companies came to the conference and met with Israeli representative of 28 start-up companies and venture capital companies. The conference was organized by the Singapore government's TIF fund that has until now invested in five Israeli companies. Participants included representatives of the Singapore government's GIC fund and the Singapore Government Companies Authority, which invested in Israeli companies. Participants called the conference a surprising success, in light of the difficulties that preceded it. A deal in Costa Rica: The Israeli company Ormat is selling two geothermal power units and accompanying services to Costa Rica's electric company for $19 million. The power units will be supplied within the year. The Hamashbir Latzarchan department stores chain has received the concession from the Spanish fashion company Zara to operate a chain of shops in Hungary. Hamashbir Latzarchan operates the Zara chain in Israel, and its net sales totaled more than NIS 300 million last year. Three groups of Israeli investors have recently acquired apartment buildings for rent in the Harlem section of New York and in Miami, FLA for $5 million. The New York deal was arranged by the Real Basic Company, and the Miami deal by the International Global Real Estate Company of the ICG group. In another deal in Florida, the Israeli Company Activity One acquired a commercial center near West Palm Beach for $2.6 million. The Winn Dixie supermarket chain and the First Union Bank operate in this center. The Israeli electronics company NICE won a tender to supply one of the large airports in the US with its Nicevision system. This system, one of Nice's flagship products, records information from video cameras by digital means on hard disks, and provides the user with advanced tools to retrieve this information. The system is also designed for hospitals, hotels, prisons, and casinos, in which video cameras are placed. It replaces the old analogic systems that usually included video instruments and tapes. The system that was sold to the US airport will be responsible for information coming from 700 digital cameras.
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