The Australian Security Exchange’s campaign to attract international companies is starting pay dividends, and most of the rewards are coming from Israel.
The nation is an emerging IT player and venture-capital hub and its companies are increasingly looking to fund growth with offshore capital.
Thirteen companies have listed on the ASX in the past few years as part of the exchange’s so called “Three Island” strategy.
Nine of those thirteen occurred in the past year, meaning the rate of Israeli floats has certainly stepped up. Most have been through backdoor listings but the rate of IPOs is also on the rise.
Under the plan, driven by the ASX listings general manager Max Cunningham, companies from Israel, Ireland and Singapore have been on the radar.
Two companies — Mobilicom and G Medical — are ready to turn public, potentially in the next few weeks
Similarly CyberGym, a cyber security and government defence IT provider which is chaired by Australia’s former ambassador to China Geoff Raby, is also doing the rounds, shaking the tin on a roadshow.
The number of Israeli companies turning to Australia has taken regulators by surprise and agencies have been keen to ensure the groups are aware of the local listing rules.
ASX officials will lead a tour of Australian brokers and lawyers to Israel in the next few months to discover more potential listings.
A number of Australian bankers and lawyers have won work out of the Israeli rush to the market. ASX data shows that Tolhurst, Henslow, Paterson and the smaller firms of Armada, Otsana and Trident Capital have provided corporate advisory. On the legal side, Baker & McKenzie is the stand-out name but Perth firm Steinepreis has picked up the majority of the work.
Medical cannabis listings from Israel are becoming popular with three stocks in the sector — MMJ Phytotech, MGC Pharmaceuticals and Creso Pharma — listing recently.
Creso will resume trading today after carrying out a small capital raising last week and MMY and MGC both had cracking days on Friday, with the stocks rising 5 and 10 per cent in the stronger market.
In an interesting announcement on Friday, MGC said it had raised $10m through a share placement at 6.5c. A small part of that raising, nearly $50,000, was used to pay a public relations firm Media and Capital Partners.
I dint know the Israelis had this much to do with all these??
Expand
