Number Of Private Equity Deals In Israel Up 13%, According To IVC Report

February 3, 2016 | The number of private equity (PE) deals in 2015 increased by 13 percent, from 80 to 90 deals, according to research firm IVC and law firm Shibolet. Their annual report recorded a total of $3.4 billion in PE investments in Israeli companies, a three percent increase from last year, and three percent below the $3.5 billion invested in PE in 2012, the record year so far. Foreign PE funds accounted for the majority of Israeli PE investments in 2015 with $2.2 billion or 64 percent of the total capital, including the two largest deals: XIO Group’s buyout of aesthetics company Lumenis for $510 million and Francisco Partners’ buyout of ClickSoftware for $438 million. “Looking at the number of new growth funds raising capital and the over subscription for Israeli PE funds we have seen, we believe that the positive trend in the Israeli private equity market is likely to continue,” Omer Ben-Zvi Partner at Shibolet & Co said in a statement. However, he warned that “the private equity market is affected by global changes, so recent developments, such as the ones in the Asian capital markets, are likely to have an impact on the Israeli private equity market as well.”