Barkat supports merger: “If the acquisition of Psagot succeeds, Altshuler Shaham will be supervised” – the capital market

“If the move is successful, and we have a large and competitive body vis-à-vis the insurance companies, then the investment house itself needs to receive some regulatory oversight,” the insurance commissioner said today at the annual conference of public companies and the directors’ union. Barkat’s statement is interpreted as support for the purchase and Altshuler Shaham shares rise 4% in higher-than-usual trading

The Capital Market Commissioner, Moshe Barkat, addressed the issue of selling Psagot to Altshuler Shaham in a one-on-one conversation with Prof. Yossi Gross: It takes powers that I do not have, but when the supervision is done from above, it has an advantage. ”

Barkat also referred to the expected entry of the international institutional consulting firm ISS and said that “the entry of ISS will create an opportunity for advisory services to institutions, without fear of a conflict of interest. The investment committees will reflect the public interest and colleagues, but will not replace the portfolio manager. I suggest that the investment committee be composed of people who have no affiliation with the management company, but people who will be elected by an external body. ”

Ilan Pelto, CEO of the Association of Public Companies: “The potential of the stock exchange is still far from being realized – we can reach 1,000 public companies on the Israeli Stock Exchange. This is the right solution to get out of the corona crisis. Every company that joins is more employees, employment and innovation. ”

According to Plato, “Last year an IPO record was broken with the 30 new IPOs, and I estimate that record will be broken once again this year. Unfortunately, we are already starting to hear voices of criticism and intimidation in the media, but people are forgetting that the current IPO is like water in the desert. .

The chairman of the Securities Authority, Anat Guetta, referred for the first time to the rules of best practice formulated by the authority and will be published soon. According to Guetta, “directors are part of the gatekeepers, and they are the regulator’s long arm against violating the rules of the game. They are the ones who prevent corruption and maintain moral purity and their role is to preserve the investing public.”

According to Guetta, “Following the dispersal of the controlling nuclei on the Israeli stock exchange, a transformation in the position of director must be led. Who proposes and who appoints directors? Who controls? The Companies Law does provide an answer, but in practice it is complicated.” The power passes to the distributed shareholders, who are represented by the institutional bodies.This is not a simple situation for the new directors.

The horizon of interest also changes. The controlling shareholders had a long breathing horizon, while the new controlling shareholders changed the share price very much, because they are measured by the returns they produce. ”

On the issue of directors, Ilan Pleto, CEO of the Association of Public Companies, called for an end to the reduction in directors’ salaries due to the move to Zoom meetings and to work to improve the discourse towards directors: “When a company fails, everyone asks where the directors were.” “To the year or entrepreneur of the year, and the board is not recognized.”

Ilan Palto also referred to the position of the Capital Market Authority on the new Insolvency Law and argued that “the amendments to the Insolvency Law may reduce companies’ haircuts in insolvency cases. In the current situation, a company’s biggest concern is to put it on a moratorium. “To end the company’s path in its existing format and no one is willing to volunteer to bring the company to this path. Therefore, if another path is opened, it is relatively easier, the chance that a company will go to it is greater and therefore the creditors’ situation improves, not worse.”

Chairman of the Stock Exchange Amnon Neubach Surveyed stock exchange activity: “We increased liquidity on the stock exchange, managed to expand the range of products, and began to better reflect the Israeli economy. High-tech became the main locomotive of the stock exchange. 30 new companies joined, about 19 of them in high-tech. This is a significant addition. Since the beginning of the year, 10 more high-tech companies have joined. ”