Resilience of Israel economy during the Israël-Hamas conflict. MobileEye raises 890 M$ (NYSE)!
Top scores on global indexes of economic competitiveness, a striking concentration of innovative people, a culture that promotes experimentation and daring, and governmental eagerness to create supportive conditions for investors, combine to make Israel a leading site of investment far beyond what its small size and short history might suggest. An entrepreneurial powerhouse, Israel is a hotbed of pioneering technologies, profitable business opportunities, and high investment returns. That’s why the world’s leading multinational companies have all made the choice for Israel. Microsoft, Motorola, Google, Apple, Facebook, Berkshire-Hathaway, Intel, HP, Siemens, GE, IBM, Philips, Lucent, AOL, Cisco, Applied Materials, IBM, J&J, EMC, and Toshiba spark the long list of over 200 MNCs who have realized that Israel is their ideal choice for investment. The reasons that Israel is the preferred spot of multinationals for business are endless. Here, we’ve sketched out the top ten.
Mobileye NV (MBLY), the Israeli company creating software for driverless cars, raised $890 million in its initial public offering in the U.S. Mobileye, whose software anticipates potential collisions, and existing shareholders sold 35.6 million shares for $25 each, above the high end of the marketed range, according to a PR Newswire statement. The company increased its price range this week to $21 to $23 apiece. At the IPO price, Mobileye has a market value of $7.6 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Jerusalem-based Mobileye’s IPO surpassed Partner Communication Ltd’s share sale of $525 million in October 1999 to become the biggest U.S. IPO by an Israeli company. Founded by Hebrew University professor Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram 15 years ago, Mobileye makes a chip and a system that alert drivers to pedestrians and unintended lane departures. The company’s products will help enable hands-free driving on the highway by 2016, according to the filing.
As of March 31, Mobileye’s technology was installed in about 3.3 million cars made by manufacturers from Honda Motor Co. to Tesla Motors Co., the company estimates. Mobileye’s software is distributed through auto-parts suppliers such as TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. (TRW) and Delphi Automotive Plc.
Mobileye posted 2013 net income of $19.9 million following two years of losses, according to the prospectus. Revenue in 2013 was $81.2 million, more than double the figure from 2012. Mobileye intends to use some of the net proceeds from the IPO to purchase inventory.
The company counts Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Fidelity Investments and BlackRock Inc. as investors, according to the filing. Goldman Sachs is selling shares in the offering, in addition to some Mobileye executives and other individual investors.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley managed the offering. The stock, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MBLY, will begin trading tomorrow.
