Weekly round-up: Israel moves away from high-tech roots

"Israel used to be known for exporting oranges, now it's known for exporting apples," said prime minister David Cameron to Blackstone ambassador and adviser Dan Gillerman, who quoted the PM to delegates at the Israel Private Equity Opportunity Summit in London last week. Indeed, despite the country's credentials in high-tech investments, now is time to go back to basics. unquote" analysed the rising interest of buyout houses in Israel, tempted by increasing GDP and a growing population. The likes of supermarkets, mobile networks, insurance firms and financial institutions are catching the eye of international GPs setting their sights on the country – a start-up nation no more.

Having left DC Advisory to join Riverside's origination team, Tommy Seddon spoke to unquote" senior reporter Alice Murray about sourcing quality deals in the competitive UK mid-market. The new hire is optimistic, but given the highly competitive nature of the market segment, are pricing issues on the rise? "It does feel as if pricing is increasing at times; we often hear about valuations that we don't understand. But this is only for good businesses," Seddon said. "For strong assets, stability of earnings means that investors will pay a premium."

Earlier this month, LBO France's Labeyrie Fine Foods tapped into a buoyant bond market to issue €275m of senior secured notes with a record low yield. "The Labeyrie placement was very impressive," a London-based banker told unquote". "At that point, it really begs the question of whether it should still be called high-yield." Greg Gille examined the GP's recent refinancings and lender appetite in the French market.

That's all from me this week but if you have any comments on this week's analysis, please send your thoughts to amy.king@incisivemedia.com.

You can continue to follow me and the rest of the unquote" team via @unquotenews for all the latest private equity and venture capital updates, and of course on unquote.com.

Amy King
Senior Reporter, unquote"

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