Straight from the Jerusalem Boardroom #139, Jan. 1, 2010
Yoram Ettinger, Jerusalem
1. Acquisition of Israeli companies accelerated. IBM acquires Israel's Guardium for $200MN in cash, its 9th Israeli acquisition. The 1st acquisition was in 1998 (Ubique) and then iPhrase (2005), Unicorn (2006), WatchFire (2007), TeleLogic, XIV, Diligent and FilesX in 2008 (Globes, Nov. 30, 2009). Broadcom acquired Israel's Dune networks for $178MN in cash (Globes, Dec. 2), its 5th Israeli acquisition, following VisionTech (2000), M-Stream (2004), Siliquent Technologies (2005) and Octalica (2007). Alcon acquired Israel's Optonol for $150MN and additional sum preconditioned on milestones (Globes, Dec. 15). Abbott Laboratories acquired Israel's Starlims Technologies for $123MN (Globes, Dec. 16). Autodesk acquired Israel's PlanPlatform for $25MN (Globes, Dec. 18). Oclaro acquired Israel's Xtellus for $33MN and additional sum preconditioned upon milestones (Globes, Dec. 21). CA acquired Israel's Oblicore for $25MN, its 10th Israeli acquisition (Globes, Dec. 31).
2. SGE invested $12MN in Israel's NetforMx (Globes, Dec. 15). Sequoia and Charles River participated in a $10MN round by Israel's CloudShare (Globes, Dec. 14). Emergence Capital led a $10MN 3rd round by Israel's SupportSpace (Globes, Nov. 27). JK&B Capital and Longworth participated in the $8.6MN 2nd round by Israel's ViewFinity (Globes, Dec. 24). DAG Ventures led am $8MN 3rd round by Israel's Clarizon (Globes, Dec. 15). Bessmer, Vulcan Capital and Ascent Ventures participated in a $6MN round by Israel's Bizo (Globes, Nov. 27). Intel Capital participated in a $4MN round by Israel's Zend and in a similar round by Israel's Saifan (Globes, Nov. 27).
3. Israel's Palsan, located in the Galilee on the Lebanese border (1,100 workers in Israel and 350 abroad in Israeli, US and French plants), is a global leader in the area of armor protection technology for vehicles. Palsan's chief client has been the US military. For example, Palsan has teamed up with Oshkosh to provide 6,244 armored vehicles for the US Army. In 2007, Palsan was awarded a $1.1BN contract, for 5,500 military vehicles, as Navistar Defense's subcontractor. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), a senior member of the Armed Service Committee, credited on Nov. 3, 2009 Palsan's protection of M-ATV combat vehicles with making a difference in the personal safety of US GIs in Afghanistan. Palsan's 2008 sales reached 2.5BN Shekels (3.8 Shekels per US dollar), a 100% leap compared to 2007 and 50MN in 2002 (Ha'aretz, Dec. 28).
1. Acquisition of Israeli companies accelerated. IBM acquires Israel's Guardium for $200MN in cash, its 9th Israeli acquisition. The 1st acquisition was in 1998 (Ubique) and then iPhrase (2005), Unicorn (2006), WatchFire (2007), TeleLogic, XIV, Diligent and FilesX in 2008 (Globes, Nov. 30, 2009). Broadcom acquired Israel's Dune networks for $178MN in cash (Globes, Dec. 2), its 5th Israeli acquisition, following VisionTech (2000), M-Stream (2004), Siliquent Technologies (2005) and Octalica (2007). Alcon acquired Israel's Optonol for $150MN and additional sum preconditioned on milestones (Globes, Dec. 15). Abbott Laboratories acquired Israel's Starlims Technologies for $123MN (Globes, Dec. 16). Autodesk acquired Israel's PlanPlatform for $25MN (Globes, Dec. 18). Oclaro acquired Israel's Xtellus for $33MN and additional sum preconditioned upon milestones (Globes, Dec. 21). CA acquired Israel's Oblicore for $25MN, its 10th Israeli acquisition (Globes, Dec. 31).
2. SGE invested $12MN in Israel's NetforMx (Globes, Dec. 15). Sequoia and Charles River participated in a $10MN round by Israel's CloudShare (Globes, Dec. 14). Emergence Capital led a $10MN 3rd round by Israel's SupportSpace (Globes, Nov. 27). JK&B Capital and Longworth participated in the $8.6MN 2nd round by Israel's ViewFinity (Globes, Dec. 24). DAG Ventures led am $8MN 3rd round by Israel's Clarizon (Globes, Dec. 15). Bessmer, Vulcan Capital and Ascent Ventures participated in a $6MN round by Israel's Bizo (Globes, Nov. 27). Intel Capital participated in a $4MN round by Israel's Zend and in a similar round by Israel's Saifan (Globes, Nov. 27).
3. Israel's Palsan, located in the Galilee on the Lebanese border (1,100 workers in Israel and 350 abroad in Israeli, US and French plants), is a global leader in the area of armor protection technology for vehicles. Palsan's chief client has been the US military. For example, Palsan has teamed up with Oshkosh to provide 6,244 armored vehicles for the US Army. In 2007, Palsan was awarded a $1.1BN contract, for 5,500 military vehicles, as Navistar Defense's subcontractor. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), a senior member of the Armed Service Committee, credited on Nov. 3, 2009 Palsan's protection of M-ATV combat vehicles with making a difference in the personal safety of US GIs in Afghanistan. Palsan's 2008 sales reached 2.5BN Shekels (3.8 Shekels per US dollar), a 100% leap compared to 2007 and 50MN in 2002 (Ha'aretz, Dec. 28).
Yoram Ettinger is a consultant on US-Israel relations as well as the Chairman of Special Projects at the Ariel Center for Policy Research. Formerly the Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, DC, Ettinger also served as Consul General of Israel to the Southwestern US. He is a former editor of Contemporary Mideast Backgrounder, and is the author of the Jerusalem Cloakroom series of reports which is featured on The Galilean Word and many other blogs.
Source: Yoram Ettinger, traight from the Jerusalem Boardroom #139, Jan. 1, 2010. Reposted with permission of the author.
