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THE ECONOMY
Largest deal in Israel in this field and one of largest in world The Swiss banking group UBS is transferring the management of its venture capital investment portfolio, worth $100 million, to the Israeli venture capital management companies, Vertex and Formula. The two Israeli companies have set up a joint management company in Great Britain specifically for this purpose. The UBS investment portfolio includes many companies throughout the world including four Israeli companies. Vertex and Formula competed against large management companies in the US and Europe over the management of the UBS portfolio. This is the largest deal in Israel involving transferring management of fund portfolios, and one of the largest deals in this field in the world.
AT&T Wireless, the third largest provider of cellular services in the US, has begun to operate its voice activated dialing service, which is based on technology developed by the Israeli company Comverse. AT&T has 21 million subscribers. The Comverse technology makes it possible to operate a cellular product by voice, not only for dialing purposes, but also to transmit voice messages, to read aloud, and to respond to electronic mail. The number of companies in the world that provide voice operated dialing services is very small.
El-Op, an Israeli subsidiary of Elbit, won a contract of over $7 million this week to supply the American giant Lockhead Martin with advanced display systems for its F-16 aircraft. The systems are wide-view and are based on new technology. To date, El-Op has manufactured and supplied more than 2000 advanced display systems, which have been installed in a wide variety of combat planes around the world.
Israeli real estate companies are expanding their business dealings in Europe and the US. BSR Europe and Electra Real Estate are beginning to build a large commercial and office project covering more than 100 square meters in the center of Budapest, capital of Hungary. The cost of the project is estimated at more than $90 million. Over the past two weeks, Malibu has sold 240 units in the 18-Young project in Toronto. Sales totaled some $35 million. Liberty, which initiates and rents commercial and office buildings, has finalized a deal to acquire an office project in Prague for 22 million euro. 93% of the area is rented long-term to commercial bodies. Liberty had previously acquired a smaller office project in Prague for 3.3 million euro.
The Israeli company IES Interactive won a million dollar contract to supply the Royal Thai Army with simulators for training purposes. The company won another contract for a similar amount from Thailand around a year ago. The company's clients are primarily security organizations such as police forces and special forces in the Pacific region in general and in Thailand specifically.
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