Insights & News

An article by Adv. Zvi Gabbay that critiques the Israeli SEC's staff position paper it issued and which details actions which may be considered as "Trading Fraud".

A short comparative review which was mentioned in the article indicates that the Israeli SEC’s staff position paper is problematic, hence it does not provide clear guidelines to the players involved in trading.

Similar positions issued in other countries lean towards providing guiding principles, as opposed to a detailed specific list of actions, as indicating fraudulent trading.

The high-tech sector is concerned about the impending passing of legislation which would effectively further restrict the salaries payable to executives in the financial sector. The concern is that this legislation could be extended to apply all types of listed companies , including Israeli high-tech companies listed on venture capital markets abroad. Micky Barnea, as an experienced lawyer in the high-tech field, was interviewed by TheMarker

Barnea represented East and West Stores Ltd, a leading importer of foods into Israel from the Far East,  in a dispute concerning the use of the trade name "East and West" and its trademarks.

Following an appeal to the Supreme Court filed by our litigation department,  the ruling made against the Company by the District Court ,which prohibited the Company from using the trade name "East and West" in some markets, was reversed (our firm was not involved in the District Court action).

The Supreme Court  also reversed the contempt of court ruling issued against the Company.

East and West Stores Ltd. was represented by Adv. Zohar Lande and Adv. Itai Wigoda. Adv. Ilan Blumenfeld assisted on the commercial aspects.

In an article on the best decorated offices, The Marker Real Estate magazine chose Barnea as having one of the most beautiful law firm offices.

Dr. Zvi Gabbay, who was previously head of administrative enforcement at the Israel Securities Authority, will be joining our firm with five lawyers from his team. Micky Barnea commented to Globes regarding this expansion "together we create integrated capabilities that can handle a variety of challenges that the world of public companies and financial regulation present".

Adv. Yuval Lazi will participate tomorrow as a judge at the final event of the Startau elite entrepreneurship program "demo day".

This program is a unique acceleration program intended for young entrepreneurs, whose involvement in the program commences at concept stage. The program gives these young entrepreneurs the tools and knowledge to advance the concept to the point where it is ready for investment within three months.

Among the judges will be Samsung Venture Invesment, Krypton Venture Capital and Deutsce Telekom.

The Israeli newspaper TheMarker interviewed our head of internet department, to discuss the new guidelines issued by the Israeli Tax Authority, according to which shall begin collecting  VAT and income taxes from foreign companies which conduct substantial business over the internet in Israel, such as Facebook and Google.

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 by Adv. Zvi Gabbay that examines the willingness of the Israeli SEC to sign an enforcement agreement without a confession with regards to the offence by a violator and without such violator taking responsibility for such offence.

Additionally, the article states that comparing the administrative enforcement with the criteria of criminal enforcement would not necessarily be overlapping, and one not should expect a correlation between them.

Moreover, the article compares both the Israeli enforcement agreement policy and the United States enforcement agreement policy. The conclusion is that enforcement agreements without confession are not illegitimate and the intervention in the SEC's judgement will be acceptable only when there is a fundamental flaw in the enforcement agreement. 

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.