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A little over two months ago, at the start of the coronavirus crisis, a million Israelis were put on unpaid leave. With companies returning to normal under new restrictions, Maariv interviewed Netta Bromberg for a special guide to understand the rights of employees and the duties of employers.

This year, we were once again responsible for preparing the QA guide on doing business in Israel for the Practical Law website. The guide provides an overview of recent key developments that have affected doing business in Israel, including the legal system, foreign investment, employment, tax, competition, privacy, IP, etc.

Adv. Zohar Lande was interviewed by Globes, where he revealed that the number of requests for class action approval coming to our office has increased twofold since the start of the coronavirus crisis. According to Zohar, no action is required by the legislature or the courts in this respect.

Adv. Ariella Dreyfuss lectured today on founders' agreements and raising initial funding to Faculty of Business and Management students from Ben Gurion University’s Bengis Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

As part of our close relationship with AtoB, a professional accelerator in Jerusalem operated by the Azrieli College of Engineering, Yuval Lazi was invited today to discuss with early-stage entrepreneurs the legal aspects of building a startup. For more information, feel free to contact us.

FIMI Opportunity Funds, a private investment fund, recently completed the acquisition of control of public company Amiad Water Systems Ltd. Micky Barnea represented Hachoshlim Fund Cooperative Agricultural Society Ltd., Amiad's largest shareholder, in the deal. As part of the deal, FIMI agreed to invest about USD 19 million in Amiad for a share allocation, thereby acquiring 5% more of the company's shares.

Lytx Inc., an American fleet management software developer, has acquired the video division of the Israel-based company Surf Communications, to serve as its Israeli R&D center. Surf, founded in 1996, develops multimedia digital signal processing technologies for telecommunication infrastructures. Firm partners Micky Barnea and Ariella Dreyfuss represented Surf in the deal valued at between $20-30 million.

Netta Bromberg will participate on an expert panel as part of a webinar held by Fox Rothschild LLP on the challenges faced by Israeli entrepreneurs and businesspersons residing in Israel or living abroad.

An M&A expert, Micky Barnea was interviewed by the leading newspaper Globes as part of an extensive analysis on the long list of major deals that are being canceled and the financial uncertainty in this period. The article highlights how huge corporations are able to afford what little companies and the self-employed can only dream of. According to Micky, "Starting in February, we noticed a phenomenon in which time has become elastic. Usually people strive to keep deals at a steady pace, and once the handshake is made, they want to move faster. Now, less people are hurrying to complete a deal. They are taking time to see what will happen next in the market.”

Our tax team advised the strategic partner Sham (Relyens Group), Europe’s largest insurance and risk management provider for healthcare, on the tax aspects of its USD 20 million investment in CyberMDX, an Israeli healthcare cybersecurity provider that delivers visibility, threat prevention, and operational efficiency for medical devices, IoT, and clinical networks.

The Israel-based global leader in the development of non-implant catheter-based solutions for treating heart valve calcification has raised $27 million in funding. The investment round was led by our client, the European life sciences venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners, with the participation of Pi-Cardia chairman Prof. Jacques Séguin and previous investors. Advs. Micky Barnea and Ariella Dreyfuss represented the client.

On April 17, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its case against our client Amir Waldman.

Waldman, the former vice president of Israel-based medical device company Syneron Medical Ltd., was alleged to have made $4.3 million via insider trading on an autonomous driving system technology developer. He will pay the SEC nearly $2.2 million to end a civil enforcement lawsuit, a New York federal district judge announced Friday.

Zvi Gabbay commented on the decision as follows: "As in many cases, here too, a negotiation was being conducted at the same as we were preparing for trial, and it ultimately ended with an excellent result. This is a civil not a criminal case, and the arrangement, under which Amir does not admit or deny the facts, allows Amir to move on."

Our Litigation Department is representing  the board of directors and active management of Habima Theater in liquidation proceedings filed by the company's creditors and in legal proceedings directed by the company's temporary trustees.

Dr. Moshe Bareket, the Director General of the Israel Capital Markets Authority, has proposed postponing payments, by deferring or replacing debt in order to raise interest rates to bypass a debt settlement, as part of a rescue plan for the corporate market. His proposal is largely based on the method presented by Adv. Zohar Lande, the head of our Litigation Department, in an op-ed published earlier this week.

Harel Perlmutter was interviewed by Tax Notes International following criticism that the reliefs the Israel Tax Authority issued for taxpayers in light of the coronavirus pandemic are insufficient.

Yuval Lazi participated today in the demo day of the Jump TAU Jewish-Arab Accelerator Program. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the meeting took place online.

Dr. Zvi Gabbay, together with Lior Segev, the co-founder and CEO of Liquant Asset Management, hosted today an online seminar for members of the Israel Hedge Funds Association on business continuity planning during the coronavirus.

The coronavirus crisis is affecting both stock prices and corporate bond prices and yields in the capital market. Zohar Lande, in an article for Bizportal, explains that the Israel Securities Authority must create a “fast-track mechanism” that allows companies to choose to be included in a debt restructuring arrangement subject to the different criteria.

 As experts in the real estate field, our firm was interviewed about Globes about the use of the force majeure clause in real estate contracts We noted, "The law does not have a uniform definition of what a force majeure event is and interpretation is made in accordance with previous rulings.”

Adv. Hagit Ben Moshe was interviewed by TheMarker following the Israel Land Authority’s declaration that the Appeals Committee’s decision will only be considered a  recommendation and not an obligation. Hagit commented that “this decision could have far-reaching impact.”