An emerging giant

London Stock Exchange has a strong and longstanding relationship with Israel. The country’s knowledge-based economy fosters phenomenal innovation among its fast growing companies in tech, cyber, fintech, natural resources and life science fields.

As part of our commitment to Israel, in 2016 LSEG established a presence in the country through our dedicated representative Justine Zwerling. LSEG aspires to further deepen our already strong relationship with Israel by attracting more Israeli companies to list and dual list on our markets. We hold a flagship conference in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem each year, and we are also committed to helping Israel’s businesses by enabling them to raise capital internationally for growth, as well as to complement their capital raising on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Our range of markets - including AIM, the Professional Securities Market, and the world-renowned Main Market - support more international companies than any other exchange in the world. We are proud to have 26 Israeli companies on our markets with listings of over $17.1 billion raised strategic equity capital through IPOs and follow-on offerings on London’s Main Market and on AIM.

Sovereign bond listings

London Stock Exchange is a leading centre for international sovereign bond issuances. On 18th January 2017, we welcomed the listing of Israel’s largest ever Euro-denominated bond offering. The €2.25 billion issue in 10- and 20-year government bonds marked the first time in three years that Israel issued Euro denominated debt. The offer secured exceptional investor demand and was more than four times oversubscribed, with the combined order books closing in excess of €9.5 billion. The performance of the issue reinforces the exceptional investor interest in building exposure to Israel’s dynamic economy.

In July 2019, LSEG welcomed Israel’s first 50-year bond for €500mn.  The bond has a fixed 2% interest rate, reflecting the lower cost than previous offerings that were for periods of up to 30 years. London is now home for 9 bonds from the State of Israel which have raised over $9.4 bn equivalent.

Israel’s choice of London Stock Exchange for its largest ever Euro-denominated bond offering underlines the strength of business ties between Israel and the UK.

FTSE Russell

LSEG is the owner of FTSE Russell, a leading multi-asset global index, analytics and data provider. The platform provides market participants and investors with a broad suite of indexes and tools for tracking the Israeli fixed income and equity markets. 

Following its annual governance review in September 2019, FTSE Russell announced that Israel will be added to the FTSE World Government Bond Index (WGBI), a widely used metric for global, investment grade, fixed-rate, and local currency government bond markets covering 22 local currency jurisdictions. 

From 1 April 2020, Israeli bonds are projected to comprise 0.29% of the index on a market value weighted basis. As of August 2019, based on 13 bonds with $68.2bn in market value. ILS-denominated linkers will also be added to the FTSE World Inflation Linked Securities Index (WorldILSI) from 1 April 2020, and are projected to comprise 1.78% of the index on a market value weighted basis. 

FTSE Russell tracks the Israeli equity market as part of its FTSE Global Equity Index Series (GEIS). Israel was promoted from Advanced Emerging to Developed in September 2008. 

ELITE

ELITE is a two-year programme designed by LSEG to help ambitious SMEs prepare and structure themselves for their next stage of growth. It does that by providing access to long-term financing opportunities. ELITE aims to present companies with a full range of funding options; to increase company profile and visibility; to promote relationships and opportunities with potential investors; and to support management best practice and entrepreneurship. So far, more than 1,300 companies have participated. The programme is supported by over 400 advisors and investors. 

Eight Israeli companies are part of ELITE, London Stock Exchange Group’s successful international business support programme. The program has received very strong support from the Israeli Embassy in London, and Israel’s Ministry of Economy.

In 2015, eToro became the first Israeli company to join ELITE. eToro is a fintech company providing online investment platforms; they successfully raised $100 million through our ELITE club deal platform.

Issuer services

Explore our exciting range of services and be inspired in Spark. As an Issuer log in to access your personalised data and profile features. In 2019 Fincom became the first Israeli company to join the issuer services platform.