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About a year and a half after the investment fund Accelmed, which is managed by Uri Geiger, announced the merger of the company it controls, American Keystone Group, with the Israeli Paltop company, controlled by Shmuel Topaz, it is now acquiring the entire holdings in Paltop for NIS 100 million. This ends the conflict between the investor groups of Paltop and Accelmed. Advs. Daniel Lorber, Netta Bromberg, and Harel Perlmutter  represented the Topaz family and the Paltop investors.

Azrieli Group and MGS have launched a retail website to sell fashion and footwear products. This is the first time Azrieli has set up a company together with a retailer. The deal was led by Sagi Gross.

Micky Barnea was invited to be a guest speaker in a webinar held on July 30 presented together with CoWrks Foundry (an India-based accelerator), RIHub (US-based innovation hub), and Brown University. Micky discussed the legal aspects of introducing a startup to the international market.

Many steps go into completing M&A transactions. Now, with the COVID-19 outbreak, companies are taking this time to modify and sometimes even cancel transactions. What is behind the delay in completing transactions, and on whom to take the risk? Globes interviewed M&A expert Micky Barnea on the subject.

Advs. Yuval Lazi and Uri Hillel of our firm accompanied Britannica Knowledge Systems, a world-leading provider of advanced solutions for training management and professional competence, in a USD 70 million contract for the supply of the FOX system to the United States Army.

The Tel Aviv University Entrepreneurship Center begins today its series of summer lectures. "Summer Entrepreneurship" is a weekly program that invites four experts to talk about various topics related to entrepreneurship. The opening webinar today will host four experts in the high-tech field in Israel, including Micky Barnea. Micky will discuss the entrepreneurial relationship and why it is critical to a venture's success.

Each year, many returning residents arrive in Israel. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of people seeking to return to Israel has increased even further. The process of returning to Israel is not simple, and returning residents face enormous difficulties as part of it. A Ynet article on the subject featured an interview with Harel Perlmutter, a partner and the head of the firm’s Tax Department. Harel explained: “Those who return to Israel after less than six years abroad have almost no tax benefits.” He added that “there is a great confusion about the rights and benefits returning residents are eligible to from the National Insurance Institute. Over the years, the benefits for returning returns have been cut back, and this has kept people away from the country.”

We represented a group of institutional lenders, including Psagot and Amitim, in a deal to finance Shikun & Binui Group's construction and operation of a power plant in Ashdod, for approx. NIS 600 million.

Amitim and Psagot were represented by Advs. Simon Jaffa, Samuel Henri Samuel, and Rotem Orbach.  

Our firm was chosen to provide the Israel section of a briefing on governmental measures taken during COVID-19 in key jurisdictions. The publication offers a general summary of the law and is aimed to assist businesses through these ever changing times.

The recent dividend distribution by TASE-traded company Fox-Wizel Ltd. after receiving emergency funding from the Israeli government not only raised moral questions but also underscored the complexity facing many companies at this time. Globes published an op-ed by Micky Barnea in response to the backlash following the company's actions. Micky noted that a key challenge faced by companies is how to balance between dealing with the difficulties and uncertainties of the COVID-19 era, on the one hand, and the desire and responsibility to continue operations as commercial enterprises, on the other.

In the weekend edition of Yedioth Ahronoth, urban renewal experts gathered to discuss burning questions in the field. Representatives from our firm commented on what alternative housing is and when a tenant is entitled to it

At the end of June, the Ministry of Construction and Housing announced that due to the coronavirus crisis the time in which a contractor can delay delivering an apartment without being sanctioned will increase to 100 days. Shai Avnieli, a partner in our Infrastructure Department, published an opinion article in Globes on the subject. He commented: "This decision, which stems from a desire to solve this complex issue, is indeed welcome. However, although this decision has a significant impact on the construction market in Israel, it does not fix the issues of the construction market as a whole, particularly not the infrastructure sector."

"Exposure", a leading Israeli investigative TV show, was dedicated Monday to lessees that lease prestigious property assets but then stop paying rent and refuse to vacate. The program featured interviews with the prominent Refaeli family, who were victims to a lessee they claim did not pay rent. After the show, host Haim Etgar interviewed Liat Keisary, a partner from our firm who works closely with HNW clients that lease out their properties. Liat clarified what to look for before leasing out a property, what to do if a tenant refuses to pay rent, and how to avoid such

Our firm is representing a Canadian citizen in a NIS 5 million lawsuit against Moshe Hogeg, a well-known Israeli entrepreneur in the crypto field. Our client claims the funds raised by Hogeg’s company Stox were used by the defendants for their own personal purposes, and that the defendants violated their obligations to investors.

US President Donald Trump suspended on Monday the entry of certain foreign workers until the end of the year. Adv. Netta Bromberg, the head of our employment team, was interviewed by Calcalist about this latest development. She commented: "This decision is a long-term violation of the globalization process as we have known it in recent decades. Israeli startups looking to expand in the US will need to search for local workers and to recalculate what their business models should be.”

Globes has published a comprehensive article on technology solutions relating to the relationship between property lenders and tenants. Anat was interviewed as part of the article about the privacy of such platforms' users. Anat cited Airbnb's case as an example. The company finally agreed, after years of discussions, to hand over host data to New York City. Anat stressed that private individuals should be aware that their information can be collected and that data collection is much easier now than ever before.

We represented Inven Capital, a Czech-based VC fund and a shareholder in Cyberx Israel, an Israeli IoT & ICS cybersecurity startup, in Cyberx's sale to Microsoft for USD 165 million. CyberX has gained tremendous customer growth, with a number of leading companies using its IoT security platform to protect their web facilities. Cyberx has raised about USD 48 million since its inception in 2013. This is Microsoft’s eighth acquisition in Israel in the last decade.

Adv. Netta Bromberg, the head of our Employment Department, will be a panelist on a webinar about HR considerations for employing workers in Japan. The webinar will be held by the Israel-Japan Chamber of Commerce together with GoGlobal Ltd. It is geared for Israeli companies considering opening activity in Japan or that have already done so and are considering relocating Israeli employees to the Japanese branch.

Columbia Law School's Blue Sky blog published an article co-written by Hadar Israeli and Eran Elharar of Barnea and Joseph Facciponti and James Goldfarb of the New York law firm Murphy & McGonigle. The article provides a comparative view of Israel and the US on corporate internal investigations.

Adv. Harel Perlmutter will lecture on a webinar held by Toshav Chozer NPO. The webinar is focused on the tax considerations returning residents to Israel should be familiar with. The decision to return to Israel, normally a very complicated one, has taken on new meaning with the impact of the coronavirus. Harel will discuss all tax rights.