JERUSALEM, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Debt-laden Scailex , the main shareholder in Partner Communications , said on Monday it was seeking to sell a block of shares in the Israeli mobile phone operator to shore up its balance sheet.

Scailex, the sole importer of Samsung mobile handsets in Israel, holds 44.54 percent of Partner’s shares, with its parent Suny Electronics holding an additional 1.4 percent.

Partner is Israel’s second largest mobile phone provider and operates under the Orange brand name.

The Calcalist financial daily said on its website Scailex was in contact with private equity firm TPG to sell a 16 percent stake in Partner. A Scailex spokeswoman declined to comment.

Scailex’s share price rose 5 percent to 16.75 shekels after the firm’s announcement.

Scailex’s did not specify the size of stake it wanted to divest, but said it sought a strategic partner while maintaining control and a significantly higher transaction price than Partner’s market value.

It said it was looking for an international bank to make the deal.

JERUSALEM, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Partner Communications , Israel’s second-largest mobile phone operator, missed estimates with a 44 percent fall in quarterly profit and said it would lay off workers as part of an efficiency plan to tackle increased competition and regulatory changes in an already saturated market.

Partner and rivals Cellcom and Bezeq unit Pelephone were hit at the start of 2011 by a steep drop in fees mobile operators charge each other to connect calls and the elimination of exit fines to customers.

At the same time, in a bid to lower prices, Israel’s Communications Ministry issued licences for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which will use the infrastructure of existing operators, while approving the establishment of two more mobile providers.

“The company is preparing for the changes in the telecommunication market and will adjust the number of positions and the workforce to a level appropriate for the company’s objectives and market conditions, in addition to taking the necessary steps to improve operational efficiency,” said Chief Executive Haim Romano, who took up the CEO post last month.

The company did not say how many job cuts it would make but it is believed to be in the hundreds. Partner has the largest workforce of the three mobile operators since it does not outsource its customer service.

Romano on Wednesday also told Reuters that in addition to cutting operational costs it plans to increase its investment on upgrading its network to be ready for LTE — high-speed wireless technology — and 4G. It has already signed a $100 million deal with Ericsson for the upgrade, while total capital expenses will be 650 million shekels in 2012.

Shares of Partner, which operates under the Orange brand name in Israel, were down 0.9 pct at 35.31 shekels in afternoon trading in Tel Aviv, in a flat broader market.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – While most NBA players wait and wonder whether there will be a season, Jordan Farmar has emerged as a star in Israel.

Farmar, a 6-foot-2 guard with the New Jersey Nets, is one of a handful of National Basketball Association players who have opted to play in Europe during the ongoing lockout that threatens the entire 2011-2012 season.

“I really just wanted to make the most out of a tough situation that we are going through in the States and enjoy this process,” Farmar, who is playing point guard for Maccabi Tel Aviv, said in an interview with Reuters.

“I wanted to play at a high level and play somewhere where they value winning.”

As a player representative for the Nets, Farmar keeps on top of the labor situation and fully supports the decision of the players’ union, which this week rejected a proposal from the owners calling for a 50-50 split of basketball related income that would have provided for a 72-game season to start in mid-December.

“I understand what we are going through and the points we are fighting for,” Farmar said. “The ground we made over the past labor negotiations, to give them back now is a tough thing to swallow.”

“A lot of guys want to be out there playing and I am one of them. I am in a different situation because I have a comfortable situation here, although there is still nothing like having a job that you are familiar with.”

JERUSALEM, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Partner Communications , Israel’s second-largest mobile phone operator, plans to lay off hundreds of workers by the end of the year as the telecoms sector is being hit by competition and a tougher regulatory environment, an industry source said on Thursday.

The source told Reuters that Partner, which had boosted its workforce in 2010 by 1,500 to more than 8,000 workers, would lay off as many as 500 workers.

Partner, which operates in Israel under the Orange brand name, declined to comment on the specifics of its plan.

“As part of its ongoing business management, the company adjusts the size of its workforce to meet the changing needs of the market,” Partner said, without elaborating.

Israeli financial media reports said that the job cuts, which could reach 1,000, were decided by incoming chief executive Haim Romano. They added that Partner has the highest workforce in the sector because it relies less on outsourcing.

The Globes financial daily said most of the jobs going were in customer service centres. Two such centres in Israel will be closed while others will be consolidated, it added.

Ori Licht, an analyst at the IBI Investment House, estimated 1,000 lay-offs would lead to operational savings of 100 million shekels.

JERUSALEM, Nov 3 (Reuters) – - Camtek Ltd , a maker of automated optical inspection systems, reported higher third-quarter profit on Thursday, boosted by an expansion of its product line, and projected another year of solid sales growth in 2012.

The Israeli company, which sells its systems to the semiconductor, manufacturing and packaging and printed circuit board industries, has recently moved to five product lines from two following two acquisitions.

“The three new product lines have been able to compensate for the drop in our markets,” Chief Executive Officer Roy Porat told Reuters. “Most of our industry dropped 40 percent from the beginning of the year.”

Camtek forecasts $107 million of revenue in 2011 for a 25 percent growth rate from 2010.

Asked if the company could grow the same in 2012, Porat said: “It’s a realistic number, because we have new products we just launched that are continuing to get traction.”

Porat said revenue growth next year would also depend on the global economic situation not deteriorating.

“As long as there is no major global crisis we can definitely grow next year,” he said, noting that 80 percent of Camtek’s sales are to Asia.

JERUSALEM, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Israel’s cabinet approved a series of tax changes on Sunday aimed at putting more money in consumers’ pockets following protests against the high cost of living.

Ministers voted unanimously to lower taxes on petrol and add 5,000 shekels ($1,400) a year to the salaries of fathers of children under three years of age beginning in 2012.

They will be funded in part by an increase in the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 23 percent and a hike in taxes on capital gains to 25 percent from 20 percent.

A “rich tax” will also be imposed on those earning more than 1 million shekels a year. The tax components of the plan still require parliamentary approval.

“The consumer will feel in his pocket the cabinet’s decision today. We will continue to act with fiscal responsibility in order to avoid global economic turmoil,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted him as saying after the cabinet vote.

Netanyahu said that more steps to reduce the cost of living for Israelis would be approved later.

Earlier this month, the cabinet passed an economic reform plan drawn up by a government-appointed panel led by economist Manuel Trajtenberg to boost welfare spending and lower defence expenditures.

JERUSALEM, Oct 27 (Reuters) – - Multimedia chip provider DSP Group lowered its 2011 revenue estimate for the second straight quarter on Thursday, citing slow growth of cordless phone sales while the industry toils in a tough global economic climate.

DSP, which makes wireless chips for cordless DECT phones and other consumer telecoms products, reduced its forecast for 2011 revenue to $190 million to $194 million. In July, it had cut its estimate to $200-$207 million from $227-$245 million.

“Growth in the next generation of products is still not compensating for the erosion of traditional wireless telephony,” Ofer Elyakim, chief executive of the Israeli-based company, told a conference call with analysts following the release of third-quarter results.

He said that in addition to weak North American and European demand for cordless telephone products, companies are implementing tighter inventory policies but that demand would ultimately pick up.

“The cordless market will enjoy continued consumer demand in the coming years because of superior voice and reception qualities as well as a global trend of attractive flat rate plans for home phones offered by service providers worldwide,” Elyakim said.

He declined to give an outlook for the first quarter of 2012 but noted: “We believe that it should be better than where we are here.”

DSP separately said it received a contract from Deutsche Telekom in which its cordless chipsets will power a home gateway.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, taking his final solo decision, went against the majority when he decided last month to lower short-term borrowing costs, minutes of the monetary discussions showed on Monday.

Fischer agreed with the minority view that Israel’s economy — and particularly exports — would be harmed from a renewed global economic slowdown and opted to lower the benchmark lending rate to 3.0 percent from 3.25 percent on September 26. The cut, the first since March 2009, surprised financial markets.

“The main argument in favour of cutting the interest rate … was based on the combination of risks from the global arena. The impact of these risks, if realised, were expected to be mainly on exports, so that lowering the interest rate would reduce the effect on GDP (gross domestic product) both via the (dollar-shekel) exchange rate and via domestic demand,” the minutes said.

Israel’s economy is forecast to grow around 5 percent in 2011 but 3.2 percent in 2012, mostly due to slower export growth to the United States and Europe — Israel’s two main trading partners.

In a non-binding vote, just two of the five central bank officials supported the move to lower the key rate. The three others sought to keep rates on hold for a fourth month in a row, citing fears that a rate cut could accelerate housing price increases.

Starting with the upcoming rates decision on October 24, rate decisions will be made in a six-member monetary policy council chaired by Fischer, who had long lobbied for an MPC to bring Israel’s central bank in line with the U.S. Federal Reserve and those in Europe.

Helping Fischer’s decision to lower rates was an improving inflation environment. Although the annual inflation rate stood at 3.4 percent in August, exceeding the government’s 1-3 percent target, inflation expectations in the bond market in a year’s time have dropped to about 2 percent, the minutes noted.

JERUSALEM, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Israel’s largest food maker Tnuva reported financial results for the first time on Tuesday following months of public protests and claims the company was earning large profits through very high prices.

The company said it made a net profit of 517 million shekels ($138 million) in 2010, a 19 percent rise from 2009. Sales grew 1.9 percent to 7.2 billion shekels.

Tnuva, which sells dairy, fish, meat and poultry products, did not issue figures for 2011.

“Our results show the profit margins we achieved were proportional and similar to food companies in Israel and abroad,” said Tnuva chief executive Arik Schor, in a statement.

He pointed to profit gains at domestic rivals Strauss and Osem and foreign firms such as Unilever , General Mills and Danone .

As a private company, Tnuva had long refused to publish financial data and clashed with regulators.

The market leader in dairy products faced a consumer revolt in recent months that started with a protest over the price of cottage cheese — an Israeli food staple whose price has jumped some 75 percent in the past year.

JERUSALEM, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Zehavit Cohen, managing director of the Israeli division of private equity firm Apax Partners , on Sunday stepped down from her chairwoman roles at food maker Tnuva and the Psagot brokerage.

The resignations come in the wake of an anti-trust investigation launched against Tnuva last month.

Apax owns 56 percent of Tnuva and 76.8 percent of Psagot, Israel’s largest investment house.

Cohen, who will continue to serve as a director of Tnuva – a maker of dairy, fish, meat and poultry products — said she resigned so the companies did not have a distraction.

“I have taken this decision to ensure that Psagot and its management team is not unnecessarily distracted by the current events at Tnuva so that Psagot remains focused on the important task of seeking growth in a very challenging economic climate,” Cohen said in a statement.

“An investment house should operate without any shadow hanging over it and I therefore decided to suspend myself from any position in the company until the anti-trust authority’s investigation is completed,” she added.

Cohen said she planned to rejoin Psagot’s board once the investigation was completed.