Aussies Visit Israel to Drum Up Listings on Securities Exchange

Eight Israeli tech firms listed shares on the ASX in 2016, bringing total to 12.

As reported in the Times of Israel:

A two-man team from the Australian Securities Exchange is visiting Israel this week to drum up listings of Israeli high tech companies on the Australian exchange, which in 2016 saw more technology-based initial public offerings from all over the world than the Nasdaq did.

“We are coming to Israel both to learn the market and as a response to the strong interest we have seen from local tech companies to list on our exchange,” said Max Cunningham, the general manager of listings at the exchange, in a phone interview ahead of the visit. This is his third visit to Israel, and this time he is coming with one other exchange colleague.

“Our job in our meetings in Israel will be to present the ASX story to technology companies that are seeking to raise money,” he said. “Our message will be: speak to us. Companies shouldn’t list their shares too early, but they should definitely talk to us early on, so we can help them be ready when the market is right.”

Eight Israeli tech companies listed their shares on the ASX in 2016, including three in December: HearMeOut, restaurant tech firm Dragontail, and UltraCharge, a maker of lithium ion battery technologies, bringing to 12 the number of Israeli companies that have their shares traded on the exchange. Israel now has the sixth-highest number of foreign shares traded on the exchange.

“Last year was a good year for the exchange, and we saw over 130 new listings, 95 percent of which were initial public offerings,” Cunningham said.

Even so, a cooling of the market was felt. “There was an increased number of listings, but at lower size.”

During 2016, there were 26 new tech IPOs, he said. There were 19 information technology initial public offerings on the Nasdaq in 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Cunningham said he expects the inflow of Israeli companies to remain strong. “We are already seeing some 12 companies from Israel in our pipeline for 2017,” he said. “Not all may pan out, but hopefully most.”