JERUSALEM, Dec 28 (Reuters) – The first Israeli company to receive a licence to become a mobile virutal network operator (MVNO) gave its license back to the government on Tuesday, citing limitations with the MVNO model.

The Communications Ministry last June awarded its first MVNO license to Telecom 365, a unit of retail group Hamashbir (MSBZ.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), in a bid to stir up competition in the lucrative and saturated mobile phone industry. Several other groups also received MVNO licenses.

But rather than become an MVNO, Telecom 365 on Tuesday signed a deal with Pelephone, Israel’s third-largest mobile phone operator and a unit of Bezeq Israel Telecom (BEZQ.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), to jointly market mobile phone services at some 140 retail locations owned by Hamashbir.

Telecom 365 will provide sales, service and marketing using Pelephone’s network.

“This model is better than the MVNO model,” Telecom 365 head Oded Birger told Reuters.

Israel has four mobile phone operators, the largest being Cellcom (CEL.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (CEL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), followed by Partner Communications (PTNR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (PTNR.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Pelephone and Mirs. The mobile phone penetration rate in Israel is estimated at about 125 percent, one of the highest in the world.

Last week, Pelephone agreed to allow MVNO Free Telecom to use its infrastructure. Financial details were not disclosed.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Monday a U.S. decision to drop efforts to achieve a building freeze in Jewish settlements.

“I welcome this American decision. It is good for Israel. It is good for peace,” Netanyahu, who resisted U.S., Palestinian and international calls for a construction moratorium, told an economic forum hours before the arrival of a U.S. peace envoy.

Faced with the collapse of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks over the settlement impasse, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Friday that Washington would return to indirect negotiations.

She said the United States would push to resolve core issues of the six-decade-old conflict. They include borders, security and the future of Jerusalem, settlements in territory Israel occupied in a 1967 war and Palestinian refugees.

A senior U.S. diplomat told reporters in Israel last week: “We reached the conclusion this is not the time to renew direct negotiation by renewing the moratorium.”

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell was due back in the region later in the day for talks with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian officials have voiced concern that Israel would try to undermine any indirect negotiations by avoiding discussion of future borders of a state they intend to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TEVA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) expects its pill-based treatment for multiple sclerosis to receive U.S. regulatory approval within two years after a clinical trial met its main goal, it said on Thursday.

Laquinimod, being developed with Sweden’s Active Biotech (ACTI.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), is jockeying for position in the emerging field of oral treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS), where Novartis’s (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) recently approved Gilenya is the current leader.

Teva is best known as the world’s largest generic drugmaker, but it also has a 30 percent market share globally — and 40 percent in the United States — for its branded injectable MS drug Copaxone, and the new drug could boost that franchise.

Recently, investors have been worried about Copaxone’s future, given the risk of generic competition to the product.

Teva’s shares had fallen to near year lows but they were up 6.0 percent by 1323 GMT on the positive results from the first of two Phase III clinical trials for laquinimod. Active Biotech jumped 15 percent.

“The big question is: will this be enough to reverse the negative sentiment?” said Yoav Burgan, head of sell-side research at the Poalim Sahar brokerage.

“The results seem very promising but we don’t have details,” he said, noting they will be presented in early 2011. “Then, we will be much smarter.”

JERUSALEM, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Israel Chemicals (ICL.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will pay around $270 million for the Global Professional business unit of U.S. group Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to expand its product line and production globally, lifting its shares.

ICL, controlled by holding company Israel Corp (ILCO.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Tuesday it would finance the purchase from its own resources and expected the transaction to complete in the second quarter of 2011.

The deal will serve as an international platform for growth around the world as the business being acquired sells specialty fertilisers and plant protection products to commercial nurseries, greenhouses and specialty crop growers in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Far East.

The Global Professional business had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $31.4 million on revenue of $242 million in the year to end-September. It has production plants in the Netherlands, United States and Britain where it has peat mines.

Shares in ICL, a fertiliser and specialty chemicals maker using Dead Sea minerals and the second largest company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, rose 3 percent to a 27-month high.

Scotts Miracle-Gro, the world’s largest marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products, said the transaction would be dilutive to its earnings by 10-15 cents in 2011. [ID:nPnCL13131]

ICL said it expected “operating synergies from the acquisition, especially in the areas of sales, raw materials and logistics, administration and other services”.

JERUSALEM, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Mellanox Technologies (MLNX.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is to buy smaller Israel-based rival Voltaire (VOLT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for an agreed $218 million to expand its position in the global data centre and storage markets.

The $8.75 per share offer was at a 38 percent premium to Voltaire’s Friday close and was expected to add between 2 and 5 cents a share to Mellanox’s (MLNX.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) adjusted profit in 2011. It would also create synergies of at least $10 million a year by the end of 2012, the companies said.

“This is an acquisition from a proximity and fit perspective so it shouldn’t raise many questions,” said Barclays Capital analyst Joseph Wolf.

Shares of Voltaire were up 34.6 percent to $8.66 in midday Nasdaq trade while Mellanox shares were down 4 percent at $24.20.

Wolf said Mellanox shareholders were taking profits after the stock reached a nearly one-year high last week. Investors, he said, were also questioning Mellanox’s long-term strategy with the purchase. “What does this move tell you about InfiniBand?” Wolf said.

Mellanox — which estimates 2010 revenue of more than $153 million — offers both InfiniBand and Ethernet switching platforms, while Voltaire is focused on InfiniBand, which offers 20 and 40 gigabit power for high-end users such as fast financial trading platforms.

IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) this year started selling Voltaire’s 10 megabit Ethernet switches with its servers, storage and networking equipment.

HERZLIYA, Israel, Nov 21 (Reuters) – The world’s largest economies look set to continue growing at a “mediocre” pace until at least 2013, due to high unemployment and large budget deficits, OECD Director-General Angel Gurria said on Sunday.

Gurria told a conference that the global economy was recovering from a deep recession, with growth at about 2 percent in the second half of 2010.

“We are growing faster than before but not fast enough to recover lost jobs,” he said, pointing to the loss of nearly 17 million jobs in OECD countries, half of them in the United States.

Gurria said the global economy should improve a bit in both 2011 and 2012.

“But it doesn’t look like we will get out of this very mediocre performance,” he said.

“We have to keep up the process of keeping economies growing and start consolidating — stop accumulating more debt … If we don’t correct public finances we won’t be able to grow in the long term,” Gurria said, pointing to budget deficits in some Western countries of as much as 12 percent of gross domestic product.

He urged countries to start the process of reducing their large debts starting in 2011.

JERUSALEM, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Israeli energy company shares slid for a second straight session on Sunday, extending Thursday’s losses on news a finance ministry panel said the government should sharply raise its take on oil and gas revenue.

An advisory committee’s interim report recommended keeping the royalty rate at 12.5 percent while adding a “progressive tax” in a 20-60 percent range, depending on production yields. A final report was expected soon. [ID:nLDE6AA1EU]

“The interim recommendations will essentially change the valuation picture of energy partnerships,” said IBI Investment House analyst Guil Bashan.

Bashan lowered his rating for Isramco (ISRAp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research), one of the partners in a group exploring for natural gas, to “reduce” from “buy” and his price target to 0.33-0.47 shekel from 0.64 shekel.

U.S.-based Noble Energy leads a group with two units of conglomerate Delek Group (DELKG.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) drilling for natural gas and oil off Israel’s Mediterranean coast.

The group, which includes Avner Oil Exploration (AVNRp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research), Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Isramco, has discovered reserves of 8.4 trillion cubic feet at the Tamar drilling site, 90 kilometres offshore.

Officials have projected a gross of $4 billion from Tamar and a second site nearby named Leviathan.

JERUSALEM, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Israeli energy company shares slid for a second straight session on Sunday, extending Thursday’s losses on news a finance ministry panel said the government should sharply raise its take on oil and gas revenue.

An advisory committee’s interim report recommended keeping the royalty rate at 12.5 percent while adding a “progressive tax” in a 20-60 percent range, depending on production yields. A final report was expected soon. [ID:nLDE6AA1EU]

“The interim recommendations will essentially change the valuation picture of energy partnerships,” said IBI Investment House analyst Guil Bashan.

Bashan lowered his rating for Isramco (ISRAp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research), one of the partners in a group exploring for natural gas, to “reduce” from “buy” and his price target to 0.33-0.47 shekel from 0.64 shekel.

U.S.-based Noble Energy leads a group with two units of conglomerate Delek Group (DELKG.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) drilling for natural gas and oil off Israel’s Mediterranean coast.

The group, which includes Avner Oil Exploration (AVNRp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research), Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Isramco, has discovered reserves of 8.4 trillion cubic feet at the Tamar drilling site, 90 kilometres offshore.

Officials have projected a gross of $4 billion from Tamar and a second site nearby named Leviathan.

JERUSALEM, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Israeli chipmaker TowerJazz (TSEM.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TSEM.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported its first profitable quarter in a decade on Thursday and forecast continued strong growth in revenue and profits in 2011.

The company has benefited from high demand for chips for X-rays, cameras and other consumer electronics and it believes a key growth driver will be in industrial power management.

Russell Ellwanger, TowerJazz’s chief executive, said the trend of energy conservation in products such as LED and LCD TVs should boost the company’s revenue by some $50 million next year and by at least $100 million in 2010.

“There’s nearly infinite growth because it was close to nothing in 2009,” he told Reuters.

TowerJazz (TSEM.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a small player in a $20-billion-a-year chip industry, has carved out a niche as a specialty maker of image sensors used in medical and dental x-rays, mobile phone cameras and digital cameras as well as radio-frequency chips and embedded memory chips.

It competes with smaller specialty foundries as well as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (2330.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and supplies to companies which supply to Samsung Electronics (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

TowerJazz posted third-quarter net profit of $1.2 million compared with a net loss of $30 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $36 million, up from $13 million. [ID:nBw107456a]

JERUSALEM, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Cellcom (CEL.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Israel’s largest mobile phone operator, said on Wednesday it plans to petition Israel’s High Court to halt a government decision to slash lucrative interconnect fees.

Like its rivals, Cellcom is also preparing for the move through both “our operational efficiency as well as … identifying additional sources of revenue,” Chief Executive Amos Shapira said as the company reported a higher than expected third-quarter profit.

In the first phase beginning in 2011, interconnect fees will fall to 0.0687 shekels from 0.25. [ID:nLDE6811GO]

“After reviewing the decision we intend to shortly file a petition with the Israeli High Court of Justice, although we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of such a petition, if filed,” Shapira said. [ID:nPnUKW824]

Prior to the Communications Ministry’s order in September, mobile operators had lobbied against the plan, arguing that interconnect fees in Europe were higher and that profits would be harmed.

Cellcom (CEL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) remained the leader in a highly saturated market in the third quarter with its subscriber base growing by 35,000 to 3.376 million to stay ahead of rival Partner Communications’s (PTNR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (PTNR.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 3.133 million.

Competition will intensify further in 2011 with the entry of a number of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).