Current Events

JERUSALEM Feb 8 (Reuters) – Private equity deals in
Israel grew 18 percent to $2.88 billion in 2011, with most
investment in cleantech and software companies, the IVC Research
Center said on Wednesday.

Ten of the 60 deals attracted more than $100 million each
and accounted for $2.15 billion, or 75 percent of the total
amount, said IVC and corporate law firm GKH.

Nearly 70 percent of the deals were by foreign private
equity companies while $898 million was invested in 15 deals in
the fourth quarter alone, the highest quarterly amount in two
years.

“In 2011, we saw the continuation of two trends in the
Israeli private equity market. The first was the growing role of
local private equity funds in small and medium size deals, but
the dominance of foreign private equity funds in large deals,”
said Rick Mann, managing partner of GKH.

“The second was the attractiveness of Israeli
technology-driven businesses to foreign private equity
investors. The latter was particularly evident in the cleantech,
software and Internet-related fields. I would expect these
trends to continue in 2012.”

Cleantech accounted for 33 percent of private equity
interest led by the buyout of Netafim, a maker of irrigation
systems, by Permira for $366 million.

Software comprised another 29 percent with three main
transactions — a $390 million buyout of Fundtech by GTCR, a
$308 million buyout of Ness Technologies by Citi Venture
International and Riverwood Capital’s $110 million purchase of
SintecMedia.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Andrew Callus)