Insights & News

The Legal Business magazine has dedicated its April edition to Israel, with a focus on current topics and trends in the country. Simon Jaffa was interviewed regarding Israel's high- tech industry.

Yesterday, the signing ceremony of the Share Purchase Agreement for the sale of Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories Ltd. to Fosun (China), for approximately NIS 290 million, was held in Jerusalem. Micky Barnea, Ariella Dreyfuss and Itay Gura from our firm represented Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem, one of the selling shareholders.

A conversation with Ariel Nadler regarding purchasing groups and the pros and cons thereof.

As an expert in advising entrepreneurs, Yuval Lazi will be a mentor in an evening event involving 40 participants in the student entrepreneurship program at the University of Tel Aviv. The event will be held on Tuesday 05/04/16 at 6pm at Tel Aviv University

An article examines the willingness of the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) to enter into an enforcement agreement without requiring the violator to confess to the offense or assume responsibility for it. It further argues that the criteria applicable to administrative enforcement do not necessarily overlap with those governing criminal enforcement, and that no correlation between the two should be assumed. In addition, the article compares the enforcement agreement policies of the ISA and the United States. It concludes that enforcement agreements without an admission of liability are not inherently illegitimate, and that intervention in the ISA's discretion would be justified only where the enforcement agreement is fundamentally flawed.

Barnea represented Continuity Software in a transaction for the sale of the company to Kedma Capital for an amount of NIS 160 million. Continuity Software is the leading provider of service availability risk management solutions.

Representing Continuity Software- Adv. Micky Barnea and Adv. Ariella Dreyfuss.
Adv. Yuval Lazi represented Kedma Capital.

In recent months the ISA has  stopped the activity of many algo-trading companies, because their businesses constitute investment portfolio management without a license required by law. In an opinion article in Bizportal,  Adv. Moran Bickel argues that the ISA should create a specific regulatory system in order to assess algo- trading companies.

In a letter circulated yesterday to companies engaged in the binary options industry, ISA informed these companies that it has decided to completely halt binary option trading in Israel. 

In an opinion article in Calcalist Magazine by Adv.  Zohar Lande, Partner and Head of the Litigation Department in our office, he  discussed the latest changes in the process of hiring interns at law firms. According to Zohar, despite shortcoming in these changes, regulatory intervention is necessary.

Adv. Gal Oren was interviewed by the prominent Israeli business newspaper, Globes, for an article regarding  the financial opportunities to be found in countries suffering economic crises.

The prestigious Bloomberg BNA’s World Securities Law Report published  an article by Ron Shuhatovich discussing the recent order of the ISA regarding the accredited investor definition.

Our head of the employment department, was interviewed by Globes magazine (in Hebrew) regarding the raising of the retirement age for women "this move is important both for promoting gender equality and for the status of women in the labor market, but I believe that the Israeli labor market is not ready for it". 

As an expert in the technology field, Micky Barnea was invited to lecture at a unique course for entrepreneurs organized by the BDO Academy, in association with the Technion’s Division of Continuing Education. Micky discussed founders agreements and investment agreements.

We participated in a roundtable held by Globes IT magazine. The subject of the event was Internet law, Cyber Protection, Privacy Information and the effects of technology. (P. 28-29)

An article discusses the need to examine corporate governance in substantive terms rather than solely through a procedural lens. It reviews the development of corporate governance in Israel from its adoption in the mid-2000s to the present, and outlines general principles for its future evolution while emphasizing the integration of substantive tests that would enable corporate governance to be implemented in an optimal manner.

Azrieli College Of Engineering Jerusalem and AtoBe Start Up Accelerator will host an event on "How Share Options Help To Grow Your Start Up", in a partnership with Barnea and Excellence, on March 16, 2016. Micky Barnea will lecture at the event on Options for start-ups’ partners & employees.

As an expert in Real Estate, Adv. Ariel Nadler was interviewed by Bizportal magazine regarding the change in the Sale Law, approved this morning by the Israeli Government. Ariel commented- "the only thing that can hurt homebuyers is the reduction of the Sale Law guarantees given to buyers of apartments, by the amount of the VAT element. This means that in the event of the realization of the guarantee, where the purchaser has paid VAT funds, the return thereof to the buyer will not be guaranteed.’’

As part of our cooperation with MIT Enterprise Forum of Israel, our office will take part in an Angel's Investor workshop consisting of 6 meetings. Adv. Micky Barnea, Adv. Yuval Lazi and Adv Ariella Dreyfuss will lecture at the workshop.

In the last few years the Airbnb platform has become a significant player in the tourist market, with a user base growing at 40% at the last year. Thousands of Israelis rent out their apartments through Airbnb and earned an amount equivalent to a monthly salary. The ITA has (until now) not been proactive in enforcing the taxability of such income. 

Adv. Harel Perlmutter was interviewed for the Ynet website and spoke about the new tax rules that may change this trend.

Barnea is pleased to be hosting a seminar for employers on relocation on March 9, 2016. The seminar will take place at our offices. At the seminar we will discuss various aspects of the relocation process. Among the speakers will be Zvi Kan-Tor, partner at Kan-Tor & Acco, as well as Michal Daliot and Hanni Ben-Shimol from Relocation. The seminar is being held in cooperation with Kan-Tor & Acoo and Relocation office.